Amidst the Wasteland
by Player2PressStart
Summary: The world we know is gone. A chemical weapon as wiped most of humanity out, and mutated many animals into humanoid creatures. Now we must rebuild from the ground up, but not everyone wants to live peacefully. You can fight for survival, fight for your friends, or fight for what's right it doesn't matter... Just fight for something. Rated M for violence and language.
1. Welcome to the New Age

**Author Note:  
This is the first chapter of a new long running series I thought of, set in an apocalyptic world where a strange chemical caused widespread mutation. I'll try to update as quickly as possible, but I only have bits and pieces planned already so it might take me longer to write new chapters so bear with me. I do not own Regular Show or its characters, I have to say that so they don't chain me to a mountain top and have a giant bird pick out my liver everyday.  
Enjoy**

* * *

I've failed, I can't say I expected it to end any other way but nonetheless… it doesn't make it any easier.  
I've decided to leave the lab for I've run out of supplies, unfortunately this means I must abandon my work.  
It wouldn't have mattered anyway, I made little if any progress on reversing the effects of the Nosoi weapon.  
The effects are too widespread, the contaminant has caused many animal species to become humanlike both physically and mentally, while actually humans exposed to the chemical suffer from genetic can range from minor changes to serious deformities, even I seem to have undergone a transformation.  
I predict that most areas will naturally decontaminate themselves within the next few decades, but by then it will be too late. The effects are irreversible, I'm afraid the era of man has come to an end.  
This will be my last entry for I'm leaving the CDC. I've done all I could…but it wasn't enough.  
To anyone who may be reading this… I'm sorry.

_**Log entered by Unknown User- 78 years after incident **_

* * *

_**Present Day- 183 years after incident**_

Mordecai laid atop a dusty hill beneath a dark and gloomy sky. He took a deep breath as he gazed down the sight of his riffle. In his crosshairs was a large deer, between two hundred to two fifty from his guess. A very valuable catch… that is, if he makes the shot. He focused his sight on its side and aimed for its lungs. Mordecai placed his finger on the trigger and slowly squeezed. A loud bang echoed through the empty wasteland. The buck looked in Mordecai's direction before darting out of the plain and into the thick woods. Mordecai stood up and ran to where the deer was standing, but when he examined the area he found no blood trail.

"Son of a bitch" he mumbled to himself ans he looked at his gun, "Must be the new sight". He put the rifle into the holster on his back and began the trek back to the settlement empty handed, "Benson's not gonna be happy about this" he said to himself as he made his way up the hill, "It has to be that sight, I'm usually a crack shot and now I can't even shoot a deer". He reached the peak of the hill and took a second to gaze at the barren wasteland, a cool breeze blew across his face. He wanted to stay out longer, but it was getting late. It was getting dark and he couldn't risk being out at night alone, so he continued his march home. The wind started to pick up and blew dust and dirt into Mordecai's face. He lifted his hand up and wiped the dirt from his goggles.

While he was cleaning his eyewear he heard a loud scream in the distance. "What the hell" he quickly ran in the direction of the cries until he reached a downward slope that led into a large gully. At the bottom was a female bird with red feathers caught in what looked like a bear trap.

"_**Help, anybody please"**_ she wailed out in pain.

Mordecai was about to run down to assist her, but then he noticed a group of men approaching her. "Oh shit" he whispered to himself as he ducked down. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to help her, but wasn't sure if he should risk it. He slowly lifted his head up and looked to the bottom of the pit.

The poor bird watched as the gang of men approached her, "Well well well, look at what we have here" on man said with a crooked smile. He had fox like features, pointed ears, snout, and fingers with long claws.

Another man with the appearance of a coyote knelt down next to her, "Why it's a pretty birdy" he said deviously while he ran his hand down her cheek.

The third man walked over to her. He seemed to be the oldest of the three, he also seemed the most intimidating. He appeared to be a wolf, and he had a chunk missing from his left ear and a large scar on his jaw.

"What do ya think we should do with her" the coyote chuckled.

The wolf man smiled, "We'll bring her back for… entertainment".

"Good call" The fox snickered as he walked up to the wolf, "Should we _**uhh**_… sample the goods".

His smile turned into a large sinister grin, "Be my guest".

The three laughed evilly, the fox walked up behind her and grabbed onto her shoulders as the coyote reached to undo the trap, "I'm gonna enjoy this" he sneered. Suddenly he heard a loud blast and felt a warm substance splash on his face. He looked up and saw the fox man with a small hole in his forehead, his eyes rolled into the back of his head as blood dripped from the wound. The coyote wiped his face off and when he looked at his hand he saw it was covered in his friend's blood. "What the fuck" he yelled in shock before looking up at his buddy. The fox fell to the ground, and behind him the coyote saw Mordecai sliding down the dirt slope before drawing a makeshift sword from his side.

"Get up" the wolf commanded as he pulled out dual knives from his coat and charged towards Mordecai.

Mordecai ran towards him and swung his sword downward at him, but his sidestepped out of its path and swung his knife at Mordecai's face. Mordecai tried to dodge it by leaning back, but the tip of the blade hit his cheek, leaving a long gash. He staggered back and held his face for a second, but he quickly brushed it. He looked to his right and saw the coyote charging him with a machete. Mordecai simply stepped back and stuck his foot out, tripping the imbecile. Mordecai leapt over him and rammed his shoulder into the wolf's chest causing him to stumble back. Mordecai took advantage of the hole in his defense and swung his sword upward. It cleaved his arm off at the elbow, the wolf grabbed his stump with his other arm and cried in pain. Mordecai then swiped the sword again this time taking off the top of his head, leaving only the lower jaw attached to his neck.

The coyote lifted himself to his feet and charged Mordecai from the back, but Mordecai could hear his clumsy footsteps. He swung his sword around and thrust it backwards, impaling his abdomen. Mordecai then spun around and re-gripped the handle and ripped it downward, cutting him from his stomach to his groin and spilling viscera onto the ground. He then kicked him in the chest propelling him back several feet, leaving a path of entrails in front of him.

Mordecai wiped the blood from the rusty blade before sheathing it, then he walked over to the girl. He knelt down and undid the bear trap, but to his surprise the trap opened with much more ease than he thought. Actually it took no effort at all, and he also noticed that there were no visible wounds on her ankle, "What the…"

Before he could finish she lunged forward and tackled him to the ground, and before he knew what was happening she was lying on top of him. That's when he noticed the cold steel pressed against his throat, _"Not good"._

"What are you doing" she screamed at him.

"_**Uh**_, saving your life" Mordecai answered, he could feel her pressing the knife harder to his neck.

"You idiot" she leaned in closer to him, "I stuck myself in that trap to lure the marauders".

Mordecai was baffled by her statement, "_**What**_" he tried to lean forward but she put her hand on his chest and forced him back down, "Why would you _**want**_ to attract marauders"?

She closed her eyes and lowered her head, "Because they have my dad". She lifted the knife from Mordecai's neck and stood up. She then held out her hand and helped him to his feet, "I'm sorry, I know you were just trying to help".

"Don't worry about it" he replied as he dusted himself off, "I guess I did kinda ruin your plan".

"It's not your fault" she said, "I mean it is but… I guess I just didn't expect there to be a Good Samaritan, I guess there's still good people in the world".

Mordecai finished cleaning the dirt off his jacket before holding his hand out, "I'm Mordecai".

She looked back at him for a second, then she smiled and shook his hand, "Margret".

"Well Margret" Mordecai stuck both of his hands into his coat pockets, "This Good Samaritan's gonna help get your dad back".

* * *

Rigby crawled through a small hole in the ground underneath a fence. Once he emerged on the other side he reached back and grabbed his pack. He draped it over his shoulders and made his way to a small building. He walked in and saw rows of shelves, "Awesome, a convenience store". As he looked around the abandoned building his excitement soon turned to despair, "_**Ah man**_, it looks like the place has been ransacked already". After looking from empty row to empty row he finally found something, "Alright, canned food". He took the silver cans and stuffed as many as he could into his bag, he then slung it over his shoulder and exited the building. He was no more than two steps out when he heard a voice.

"Over here I found someone"?

Rigby didn't know if they were scavengers like him or marauders, but he wasn't going to wait and find out. He got on all fours and ran to the fence, he threw his pack over the top and crawled under it. He picked up his bag and continued to run through the wreckage until he made it to the hills. He looked behind him and couldn't see anyone as far as he could see so he decided to slow his pace, "That was close" he panted.

He continued to walk until he made it to a thick grove, "Ok, now where's that tree" he looked around until he found a tree with a small notch in it, "Were we go". He kept walking until he found another notched tree, and he repeated this until he arrived at the front of the settlement. He stood at the gate and looked around, but couldn't see anybody, "Hello". After a moment of silence Rigby approached the gate, "Screw this". He climbed over the fence, when he was halfway down he leapt off. He started to walk when suddenly a thin man ran up to him.

He had weird semitransparent skin, it was so translucent that his bones and organs could be seen, "Rigby what are you doing" he said nervously, "You know Benson doesn't like you climbing over the gate".

Rigby turned towards the transparent man, "Well maybe if you were at your station Fives I wouldn't have to" Rigby took his backpack off and held it up, "Now I need to get this food to Benson, if that's ok with you ghost boy".

Fives lowered his head, he hated it when Rigby poked fun at his unique mutation. He knew his near invisible skin and muscles gave him a ghostly appearance, but Rigby didn't have to bring it up all the time. "Fine" he said quietly.

Rigby put his pack back on and started to walk to Benson's shed.

* * *

"How are you going to do that" Margret said, half grateful and half skeptical.

Mordecai walked over to the wolf's body and reached for his right arm, "Oh that's right" he then turned around and picked up the man's severed arm. He turned it over and looked at the padding on the hand, "Look".

Margret walked over and took a look, she saw a pair of eyes and teeth branded into his hand, "So"?

"This is the sign of The Feral" Mordecai elaborated as he sat the arm down, "Their hideout is on the other side of the valley in the rubble of an old city, I'd bet anything that your dad's there".

"Mordecai I don't know what to say, thank you" she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him, after a moment she pulled away, "How do you know all this"?

"I've scouted the area out before, it pays to know those kind of things" he answered.

"I bet" she looked up at the sky, "We should get going then". She walked over to a rock and lifted it up revealing a large hole. She reached in and pulled out a bag, she opened it and retrieved a lantern before putting the bag on her back. "You lead the way".

Mordecai nodded, he pulled out an old flashlight from his pouch and used it to light his way. They then started to head to The Feral hideout.

* * *

Rigby walked along the path of makeshift shacks and houses, waving to friendly residents as he passed. He eventually came to a large shack, its door was open so he let himself in. Once he entered he made his way to a table were a strange machine stood. It appeared to be a robot made of miscellaneous junk, it's arms and legs were made out of assorted pipes and tubes and it's torso appeared to be an old candy machine. The glass dome made the head and it was filled with a strange purplish liquid surrounding a brain with wires protruding out of it. The machine turned and faced Rigby, revealing crude facial features like a mouth and eyes, "Rigby, glad that you're back".

"Hey Benson" Rigby said as he sat his pack on the table.

Benson leaned over the table, "What do you got"?

Rigby opened the bag and dumped its contents out, "A lot of canned goods".

Benson grabbed one of the cans and examined it, he then sat it down and grabbed another, then another. After examining almost all of the cans he looked up at Rigby, "Are you kidding me" the fluid in his dome began to boil as it changed to a reddish color.

"What"?

"It's _**dog food**_" Benson slammed one of the cans onto the table causing it to bounce off and almost hit Rigby in the face, but luckily he moved out of the way, "All of it, every last can. _**Dog food**_".

Benson's yelling drew the attention from people outside, including a large ape like man with white fur who entered the shack, "What's going on in here"?

Benson turned towards him, "All Rigby brought back from his trip is dog food".

"_**Sorry**_, I should have read the labels" Rigby said in an unapologetic tone, "What's the big deal anyway, it's edible".

"Dog food is made from meat byproducts, it's not safe for human consumption" The large man answered.

Benson looked back at him again, "Thank you Skips".

Rigby was unscathed by their arguments, "Don't worry about it, I'm sure whatever Mordecai brought back will be enough food for a while".

Benson and Skips just looked at each other, he liquid in Benson's dome returned to its normal purple color. Skips made his way to Rigby, he knelt down and put his hand on his shoulder, "Rigby" he said in a disheartened tone, "Mordecai hasn't come back yet".

Rigby's heart sunk from the news, he just stared wide eyed at skips, "Wh…what"?

"Now don't worry Rigby" Benson said reassuringly, "I'm sure there's a good reason he's not back yet, just try not to jump to conclusions".

Rigby brushed Skips hand off of him, "A good reason… what reason could there be. He knows he shouldn't be out on his own after dark, he's always careful about it".

"Rigby, I'm sure he got held up and decided to bunker down for the night" Skips added, "He'll probably be back by morning".

This did little to help Rigby, his mind was still plagued with thoughts of the worst. He turned around and started to exit the shack, "I need a drink, I'm going to the canteen". Rigby left and walked quickly to his destination. The image of Mordecai's demise was still on his mind. He arrived at the canteen and took a seat at one of the tables, _"Maybe they're right" _he thought to himself, _"Maybe he's just camping out till morning, I mean he is pretty dedicated to hunting. Maybe he stayed out late to make sure he got something"._

But no matter what Rigby told himself to reassure himself nothing seemed to ease his mind. After a few moments of deep thought he was snapped back into reality by a voice, "Hey Rigby". He looked up to see a short girl with brown hair, she stood timidly as she pushed he glasses up.

"Hey" he grunted in an irritated tone.

She ignored his negative attitude and pulled out a notepad, "What can I get for you".

"Do you have any coffee" he asked.

A frown suddenly appeared on the short girls face, "Sorry, we're out" she rubbed her arm nervously, "You know how hard it is to come by these days Rigby".

He let out a loud groan, "Then just get me a lemonade Eileen" he scoffed as he rubbed his eyes.

She put her notepad away and quickly ran to retrieve his drink. While she was away Rigby propped his head against his hand, _"I hope she doesn't stick around after she gets my lemonade" _he thought to himself, _"I'm really not in the mood to deal with her shit today"_.

Shortly after Eileen arrived back at the table, "Here you go Rigby" she said as she placed the glass in front of him. He didn't respond, he just picked up the glass and chugged about half of it in one gulp. "Is something wrong" Eileen asked.

Rigby put his cup on the table and looked off into the space, "I don't want to talk about it".

Eileen rubbed her hands together as she pondered what could be bothering him, "Is it because Mordecai isn't back from his hunt yet"?

Rigby snapped his head back and glared at Eileen before slamming his fist against the table "Just shut the hell up" he screamed violently, "Why do you always bother me huh, why can't you just leave me alone? I don't need this shit right now". After his outburst he picked up his drink and walked out of the canteen, leaving Eileen almost in tears.

"_I need to be alone"_ he said to himself as he walked to the front gate, he looked up at the watch tower, "Hey Fives".

Rigby waited for a second until Fives head poked over the edge of the tower, "What"?

"Take a break, I'll take it from here" he yelled up.

"Really" Fives asked in disbelief, Rigby nodded his head in response. He immediately climbed down the latter, "Thanks Rigby, I was starting to get bored up there".

Rigby started to climb the latter, "Yeah yeah, whatever" he continued the climb till he reached the top of the tower. He took a seat on the chair and stared off into the distance, he took a deep breath as he relaxed into the chair.

* * *

Mordecai and Margret approached a large chain link fence that surrounded the city, it was erected by the CDC in a failed attempt to contain the outbreak once the contamination spread to the area. Mordecai walked along the fence looking to find a hole they could sneak through. Eventually he found just what he was looking for, "Awesome" he held the fence open and signaled Margret to go through, and once she was on the other side he quickly crouched in.

Once inside Margret and Mordecai found a road and started to follow it towards the city. The two were quiet for most of the march till Mordecai decided to start a conversation, "So, have you and your dad been on your own for a while".

"As long as I can remember" Margret answered, "We've never really settled down anywhere, we just travel from colony to colony".

"Wow" was Mordecai's response, "Do you ever get tired of moving all the time"?

"Sometimes" Margret said in a slightly disheartened tone, "It'd be nice to find a place to just live there, but I kinda like it just being me and my dad sometimes".

"I bet" Mordecai replied, "But what's wrong with other people"?

Margret looked over at him and smiled, "Nothing, just have met anyone I really enjoyed talking too… till now".

Mordecai smiled and even blushed a bit by here answer, but the mood was killed when they finally reached the city and were greeted by a horrific sight. Bodies hanging in the streets to adore, strung by the neck from the lampposts. Gently swaying in the wind, some seemed fresh while other were rotted with bones exposed from where the birds were picking away at the decaying flesh. When Margret saw the scene she instantly feared the worst, she buried her face in her hands and began to sob.

Mordecai immediately walked to her side and put his hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry" he reassured her, "They wouldn't bring your dad here just to kill him, they need him for something. He's probably just being held captive in a jail cell or something". Mordecai started to realize what he said and felt like an idiot, _"Why did I bring up the jail cell part" _he scalded himself.

To his surprise his words actually cheered her up, "You're right" she said while wiping tears from her eyes, "He's probably around here somewhere".

The two continued to walk through the city streets, to their surprise no one was to be seen. After some time they came across an old jail house building, "This has to be where they're holding him" Mordecai said as he climbed the steps to the building. He peeked around the door to see a Feral member sitting at the desk wearing the tattered remains of an old police uniform. Mordecai grabbed his sword and readied himself for an altercation, but before he could charge in there he saw a knife fly across the room and hit the guard in his left eye.

His body went limp as Margret walked towards him and pulled out her knife from his skull, "Let's go" she ordered as she scrapped the blade against the desk to get the pieces of flesh off of it. Mordecai simply nodded before following her lead. They reached the jail cells, they began to search each one until Mordecai found one that was occupied.

"Margret, I think I found him" he said as he approached the man who was tied to a chair with a black bag over his head. He grabbed it and pulled it off revealing a human man with grey hair. He had a mustache and his mouth was gagged, "Oh man" he said disappointedly. Mordecai cut the guy loss and walked out the cell when he bumped into Margret. "I'm sorry Margret but it wasn't…"

"Dad" she yelled as she ran past Mordecai to the man who was walking out of the cell. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug. Mordecai just watched, completely stupefied.

"Margret what are you doing here" The man sobbed as he hugged his 'daughter', "I told you not to come for me if I'm captured, we discussed this".

Margret broke away from her and shot him a sly look, "Oh, cut the noble shit dad. You knew I was going to come for you".

The man just smiled, "As much as I wish you wouldn't, I did".

Mordecai continued to wrap his head on the whole situation, but failed miserably, "I don't understand" he said in a confused voice, "You're dad's… human"?

Margret looked over at Mordecai, "Yeah, we get that a lot" she chuckled, "I'll explain it later". She took her dad's hand and pulled him over towards Mordecai, "Dad, this is Mordecai. He helped me rescue you".

Mordecai held his hand out, "Nice to meet you".

Her dad just looked down at his hand and stared blankly at it for a second, making Mordecai feel really awkward. He then looked up at Mordecai, "Thanks Mordecai, you're a good kid" he said while walking past him.

Mordecai lowered his hand and turned around, he watched as Margret's dad walked out into the other room.

"Don't take it personally" Margret said as she patted Mordecai on the back, "He's not really fond of handshakes".

Margret followed her dad, leaving Mordecai in the room alone. He looked down at his hand and shook his head, "This just keeps getting weirder" he said to himself before joining the others. When he entered the next room he saw Margret's dad examining the dead guard, "A clean kill" he said in a proud tone, "Wish I could have seen that throw".

"Thanks dad"

Mordecai walked up to the two, "So do you know what's going on here, _**uhh**_…"?

"Frank" he answered just slightly looking over his shoulder at Mordecai, "Frank Smith".

"Frank" Mordecai said finishing his first sentence, "I mean, where is everyone"?

Frank walked over to Mordecai, "Probably trying to figure out how to fly my helicopter".

"Helicopter" Mordecai said in shock, "You actually have a helicopter"?

"Sure do" Frank answered, "My dad gave it to me, and his dad gave it him. My grandfather was a pilot before everything went south, so he decided to pass on the knowledge to my dad. And he did the same with me".

Mordecai was in awe, a man with an actual working helicopter. Possible the last one in the world, and he actually knew how to fly it, "So how did The Feral get a hold of it".

"Well, about two days ago we landed the chopper so we could get some sleep" Frank elaborated, "I asked Margret to get some fire wood for dinner and while she was gone those bastards snuck up on me and knocked me out".

Mordecai was more confused than before, "But how did they get it here"?

"Those crazy idiots dragged it here" Margret explained, "I came back to camp and found a bunch of them pulling it with ropes, I tried to follow them but a few spotted me and chased me off".

"Well that's one question solved" Mordecai said, "So what did they want with you"?

"That's easy" Frank replied, "They were trying to get me to teach them to fly it, but I refused. They've been torturing me for the past two days trying to get me to do it".

Margret put her arms around her father again, "Oh dad, I'm so sorry".

Frank patted her back, "It's not your fault Margret".

Mordecai waited for a second so the two could have their moment before speaking, "I think we should be getting going".

Frank broke away from Margret and looked at him, "You two go ahead, I need to get the helicopter".

"But Frank…"

Before Mordecai could finish Frank cut him off, "Look Mordecai, you're a good guy, and I'm eternally grateful for your help. But there's no way in hell I'm leaving without my chopper".

"Then I'm staying too" Margret added. Frank looked like he was about to protest, but then decided against it, knowing that Margret wouldn't listen.

Mordecai took a deep breath, "Then count me in".

"Mordecai" Margret said in a stern voice, "You don't have to do this, you've done enough".

He shook his head, "No, I'm going to see this to the end" Mordecai replied, "Plus this will give me a chance to kill some Feral scum".

A small laugh escaped from Margret's mouth, "Wow, you must really hate them".

"Meh" Mordecai shrugged his shoulders as he drew his sword, "I don't mind the dead ones that much".

* * *

Rigby stared into the darkness. It was now completely dark as he sat in the watch tower, thinking about his best friend. Suddenly a hand slapped on the floor of the tower, causing Rigby to jump. Then Eileen pulled herself up from the ladder, "Damn it Eileen" Rigby scoffed, "What are you doing"?

Eileen sat on the floor next to him, "Just checking on how you're doing".

"Why" he mumble angrily.

"Because I saw Fives at the canteen and asked him why he wasn't at the watch tower" Eileen explained, "Then he said that you relieved him so I knew something was wrong".

Rigby diverted his eyes from her, "Nothing's wrong, I just felt like volunteering for night watch".

"Rigby, you never volunteer for night watch" she argued, "You don't ever do day watch, you're obviously worried about Mordecai".

Rigby clenched his fists at the mention of his name, "I swear Eileen, I will push you off this tower".

"Rigby" she said sternly, "I want to help you, let me help you".

He finally let out a loud groan, "Fine, I'm worried ok. I'm worried that my best friend is out there alone. I'm scared that he's dead and I'll have to go through life alone". Rigby propped his head against the palm of his hand.

"Rigby, I'm sure Mordecai's fine" Eileen said comfortingly, "He's a skilled survivalist, you know that". Eileen then started to rub her arm bashfully, "Also, I want you to know you'll never have to go through life alone".

Rigby lifted his head up and turned towards her, "It's just, I feel like there's no good reason for him to not be back. He's always… what's the word"?

"Punctual" Eileen answered.

"Yeah, that" Rigby said before propping his head on his hand again, "It's just not like him, you know".

A silence fell between them, Eileen looked up at the stars and smiled, "You know what I do when something's bothering me Rigby" she said softly before turning her gaze towards him, "I pray".

Rigby just laughed in her face, "What" he chuckled, "Come back when you actually have something useful for me Eileen".

"Rigby, there's nothing wrong with having a little faith" she retorted.

Rigby suddenly stopped laughing and glared at her, "Faith in what Eileen? This broken world we live in, the gangs of thugs we hide from and fight against everyday" he yelled at the top of his lungs, "I'm sorry but when I have a problem I don't ask the sky for answers".

Eileen frowned as she stared at the wooden planks of the floor before standing up, "Then the world's going to seem really dark to you Rigby". She walked to the ladder and started to make her way down.

"The world is dark Eileen" whispered Rigby, "You just need to open your eyes". Rigby then leaned back in his chair and gazed into the night, hoping to see his friend return soon.

* * *

**Holy Diver**  
** You've been down too long in the midnight sea**  
** Oh what's becoming of me**  
**Ride the tiger**  
** You can see his stripes but you know he's clean**  
** Oh don't you see what I mean**  
**Gotta get away**  
** Holy Diver**  
**Shiny diamonds**  
** Like the eyes of a cat in the black and blue**  
** Something is coming for you**  
**Race for the morning**  
** You can hide in the sun 'till you see the light**  
** Oh we will pray it's all right**

**Author's Note:  
That's the end of chapter one, hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading it. Leave a review if you feel like it, I would love to know what you think. I got this idea with I had this random thought of Mordecai (from Regular Show) dressed like Mordecai from Borderlands. Then I thought 'what about a post apocalyptic universe where the anamorphic characters were mutants' then it kinda festered from there. Also I just want to point out that the prayer topic wasn't me pushing religion on people, that's not my style. I just wanted to show that even though Rigby has his carefree attitude from the show that deep down inside he as a cynical and bleak view of the world. The footnote to this chapter is from the song 'Holy Diver' by Dio, check it out on YouTube if you like.**


	2. To the Choppa

**Author's Note:  
****I'm back with chapter 2, and as you may have noticed I changed the rating to M. It was pointed out to me that the violence and gore might be too much for a T rating, so now I can describe the fight scenes in all their bloody glory. Don't worry it's not going to turn into Evil Dead or anything like that. So last chapter Mordecai helps Margret rescue her dad Frank but now he won't leave without is helicopter, and Rigby's worried about Mordecai not returning from his hunt. I do not own Regular Show or its characters, if I did they show wouldn't have made it past season 1. So let's be thankful for that.**

* * *

Our worst fear has come true. The Nosoi weapon was accidentally unleashed in a residential area.  
We're working round the clock to contain the situation but it's spreading quicker than we thought.  
I see the images of the people affected by it, they'll stay with me for the rest of my life.  
We still aren't sure how the area was exposed to Nosoi, but the investigation is still ongoing.  
We will find out what, or who, caused this and we will take steps to ensure this never happens again.

_**User ID 4261986- 20 hours after incident **_

* * *

Frank and Margret crept along the edge of alleyway with Mordecai following close behind them. They reached the end of the alley, Frank peeked around the corner to see if anyone was on the street. He signaled that it was clear and they made their way around onto the sidewalk.

"So do you know where you're going Frank" Mordecai asked as they continued walking.

"Sort of" Frank answered without looking back, "I heard them talk about a park in the center of town where they're holding 'flying contests'. Apparently they're so desperate to use my chopper that they'll let anyone of these idiots try it".

They continued to make their way down the dark street, their path dimly lit by to orangish glow of the street lamps.

Mordecai hustled to get closer to Frank and leaned in towards him, "Do you know anything else about The Feral"?

Frank glanced behind his shoulder briefly before returning his focus forward, "Not much, but I did get a glance at their leader".

"Really" Margret said curiously, "What was he like"?

"He was a large grey wolf" Frank explained, "Goes by the name 'Cry Havoc'. Apart of his lip was missing, exposing his upper teeth on his right side".

"Whoa" Mordecai muttered quietly, "Wonder how he got that"?

"Don't know" Frank said before looking back at Mordecai, "But I doubt it was from too much chewing tobacco".

As they walked further down the street the sound of cheering and yelling could be heard in the distance, "We must be getting close" Margret pointed out.

Frank turned towards her, "I think you're right, I hear it too".

They picked up the pace and soon the cheering went from a faint whisper to a loud roar, "I see the park gates" Frank said, he then pointed to a building on the other side of the street, "We should go in there scope it out, we'll have a better vantage point".

Mordecai and Margret nodded and the three quickly ran across the road and into the large building. The inside was rundown and neglected, pieces of drywall were missing as ceiling tiles hanged above them. They started to carefully walk up the stairs as several steps were broken making it easy to get a foot stuck in them, or possibly even fall threw. Once they reached the third floor they exited the stairwell and entered a dark hallway. It took a second for Frank to get his bearings but when he did he pointed to a room down the hall, "In there".

Mordecai and Margret followed him into what appeared to be an old office of some sort, Frank pointed towards a large window and everyone walked to it and took a look outside. The sight was unsettling to say the least. The park was full of Feral marauders , forming a large circle in the middle of it where they helicopter sat.

"Oh shit" Mordecai blurted out from shock.

"How are we gonna get past all of them" Margret asked.

Frank rubbed his chin as he thought of a plan, "We'll need a diversion".

Mordecai scratched his head, "I guess I could run down the street yelling, get their attention that way".

"Not bad" Frank replied with a huge smile on his face, "But I was thinking more like a big ass fire".

"Oh" Mordecai said awkwardly, "That'd work"

Every got a good laugh at Mordecai's expense before Frank pointed to a building about half a block from the park, "We'll go to that building, torch that bitch, and I'm sure they'll have to go investigate. That should give us enough time to get to the chopper and get the hell outta here".

"Sounds like a good plan dad" Margret added

Frank turned to face her, "Do you still have my lighter"?

"Yeah, right here" she answered as she dug it from her pocket and handed it to him.

Frank took the lighter, then immediately handed it to Mordecai, "Mordecai, go in there, pile as much flammable stuff as you can find and light it. Margret and me will stay outside and keep watch, once you're done meet us outside then we'll make our way back here and wait for the building to go up in flames".

Mordecai reached over and grabbed the lighter from his hand, "No problem" he said as he place the lighter in his jacket pocket.

* * *

Rigby still sat atop the watchtower staring into the wilderness, his hope of seeing Mordecai returning dwindled each minute. His eyes grew heavy as he began to doze off, he was so out of it that he didn't even notice Fives climbing up.

When he reached the top he found Rigby half asleep in the chair, he reached over and shook him, "Rigby".

"What" Rigby shouted as he leapt from the chair.

"I'll finish the shift Rigby" Fives said quietly, "You go down and get some sleep or something".

Rigby rubbed his eyes before glaring over at ghostly man, "No, I'm fine up here".

"Rigby, you can't spend all night up here waiting for Mordecai to come back. It's not good for you" Fives said worriedly, "It'd be better for you to take your mind off of it".

Rigby let out a loud moan as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, "I guess you're right, I'll just go back home and play some old records or something" he said as he walked over to the ladder.

As he started to climb down Fives leaned over the ledge and yelled down at him, "I think Eileen's done with the canteen for the night, maybe you can hang with her".

"Pff, like that'll ever happen" he said while rolling his eyes, "She can keep dreaming".

Fives sat down in the chair and kicked his legs up, "He's quite the enigma".

When Rigby reached the bottom of the ladder he made his way through the settlement towards his and Mordecai's shack. The area was virtually deserted at this time of night as most of the residents were sleeping. He walked through the empty streets until he reached his home. He walked in and threw himself onto an old worn down couch. He propped his feet onto a small coffee table that sat in front of him. On the other side of that was a stand with an old tube television and game console sitting on it that was powered by a windmill that Skips and Techmo installed on their house. Rigby didn't want to play it though, it was something him and Mordecai use to do together and it would only make him feel worse.

Instead he got up and walked to an old gramophone that stood on the other side of the room. He placed a vinyl record on the turntable and gave it a few cranks. He laid back down on the couch as the first song started to play. It started with a guitar riff before being accompanied by drums.

"_**Ooooh yeah, yeah"**_

Rigby closed his eyes and started to bob his head to the beat.

"_**Stand up and be counted"  
**_"_**For what you are about to receive"  
**_"_**We are the dealers"  
**_"_**We'll give you everything you need"  
**_"_**Hail hail to the good times"  
**_"_**Cause rock has got the right of way"  
**_"_**We ain't no legends ain't no cause"  
**_"_**We're just livin' for today"**_

Rigby raised his hand in the air and waved it back and forth to the rhythm as he started to sing along

"_**For those about to rock, we salute you"  
**__**"For those about to rock, we salute you"**_

* * *

Mordecai entered the building and took a look around, judging by the décor it used to be an old bar and grill of some sort. He wasted no time pilling chairs and tables into the center of the floor, once he was done with that he started to look for anything to accelerate the fire, sure enough he found old cleaning supplies that were highly flammable. He doused the pile in the liquid cleaners before taking another quick look around the building. Behind the bar he found several empty bottles lying on the floor, "Sweet" he said as he picked them up and placed them on the bar. He poured the leftover flammables inside and stuffed them with tattered rags. He went into the kitchen and checked for anything else useful. He knelt down and opened a cabinet, a sinister grin appeared on his face when he saw what was inside, "Oh hell yeah".

Outside Frank and Margret were waiting for Mordecai to finish. "What's taking him so long" Frank whispered angrily.

"Calm down dad" she answered, "Just give him a minute, he's very thorough".

"Well we don't have all night" he scoffed again while staring down the street.

Margret shook her head at her father's impatience, then suddenly they noticed an orange light emitting from the building. Mordecai calmly walked out carrying his molotovs.

"What took you so long" Frank scalded.

"Sorry, but I took a few seconds to make these" he held up his homemade grenades, "Though they'd come in handy".

"Good thinkin'" Margret said happily.

Frank just snatched one from Mordecai, "Whatever, let's just get my chopper back". He started walking back to the original building as the other two followed. When they arrived they stood by the door and waited for the fire to catch their attention. "I hope that fire of yours gets their attention Mordecai".

"Oh don't worry" he said with a grin, "It'll get their attention".

"How do you know" Margret asked intrigued by his sureness.

Mordecai looked back at her, "I found something that will definitely catch their eye".

Frank turned his head towards Mordecai, "What'd you find"?

Suddenly there was a large explosion in the building, shooting a ball of fire out and scattering glass and debris all over the street. Margret and Frank both stared at the inferno.

Mordecai looked over at Frank, "Propane tanks".

They all looked out at the park, the crowd of Marauders turned their heads towards the blazing building. Suddenly a massive grey wolf walked into sight, he pointed towards the fire and started yelling something at the others.

"Is that Cry Havoc" Mordecai asked in a shocked tone.

Frank nodded his head, "Sure is".

"Oh shit" Mordecai replied, "You said he was large, not inconceivably huge".

Frank shot him an enraged glare, "Pull yourself together string bean, there's no turning back once we go in there. Are you ready"? Mordecai smiled and nodded, then they watched as the Marauders ran towards the burning building. "Let's go" Frank ordered as they ran towards the park gate. They drew closer to the helicopter when Frank was suddenly tackled by the giant wolf.

"Dad" Margret yelled in horror.

Havoc stood over an unconscious Frank as he lifted his arm up and swung his large claws at him, but before he could make contact with Franks throat Mordecai rammed his shoulder into him, knocking him to the ground. Havoc quickly stood up as snarled at Mordecai. He stood nearly seven feet tall, and was easily four hundred pounds. He wore green cargo pants, but his chest was bare showing off a muscular physic and several scars.

"I see you're trying to steal what's mine" Havoc growled with saliva dripping from his foaming mouth.

"What's yours" Mordecai retorted as he drew his sword, "You stole that from Frank".

Havoc let out a loud devious laugh, "There is no ownership anymore you fool".

"Then I don't see why _**you're**_ so pissed" Mordecai charged at the wolf and thrust his sword towards him, but he held his hand out and Mordecai's sword impaled it. Mordecai tried to pull it out but it was stuck in his paw. Havoc laughed as he swiped his other hand and backhanded him. Mordecai flew until he hit a tree and fell to the ground. "Bad dog"

Cry walked over towards Mordecai sporting a large grin, he pulled the sword from his hand as if it was a splinter and threw it down into the dirt. Mordecai tried to lift himself up as he drew closer to him, but was too sore to bring himself to his feet. Soon Havoc was standing over him, "Poor Mordecai, I guess you'll die here after all"

He lifted his foot up and prepared to stomp Mordecai's skull into the ground, but then something smashed against his back. Before he knew what was going on he was engulfed in flames. He fidgeted around trying to put out the fire before he fell to the ground and rolled around in the dirt. When the fire was finally snuffed out his slowly brought himself to his knees, a good chuck of his fur was burnt off exposing the charred flesh. He glared up at Margret who was holding another Molotov cocktail with a lit cloth, "I'll kill you for that you cunt" he snarled as he charged towards her.

She threw another bottle at him, but he swatted it in the air and ignored the burning substance on his hand. He ran up and swung his massive claws at her but she managed to roll out of the way at the last second. She pulled out two large knives from her jacket and charged in for a counterattack. She plunged the blades into his back. He howled in pain as he reached back to grab her, but she was barely out of his reach. While she hung on with her left hand she pulled out the right knife and started stabbing him repeatedly. He continued his futile attempt to grab her as she stuck him over and over again. Soon there was a large area and raw and bloody flesh on his back.

Tired of Margret's attack he leapt up to slam back first onto the ground in an attempt to crush her. Thinking quickly she jumped off while he was in the air. She landed on her side and slide just as he crashed into the earth. She quickly got up and ran towards him, she tried to sink her knives into his abdomen but he raised his hand up and grabbed her. He stood up and slammed her onto the hard ground. She gasped for air as the wind was knocked out of her. He smashed his fist into the dirt, but luckily Margret rolled out of the way and brought herself to her feet. She staggered back as Havoc turned to her.

Badly beaten Margret stood hunched over in pain, but still kept her knives up ready to attack. "I have to hand it to ya" he chuckled as he strutted towards her, "You're one resilient bitch".

Then out of nowhere he felt a sharp pain in the back of his ankles. He yelled out as he saw Mordecai run up to Margret, "Are you ok" he asked her. Margret smiled and gave him a nod.

Havoc let out a devilish laugh, "You know what they say. Two birds, _**one stone**_". He let out a roar, but when he tried to take a step he collapsed to the ground. What he wasn't aware of was that Mordecai cut his Achilles tendons, making it impossible to stand.

Mordecai let out a loud laugh, "Lay down". Mordecai walked up to land a fatal blow, but then he heard a loud moaning sound. Both him and Margret looked and saw Frank slowly getting up.

"Dad" Margret cried as she ran towards him, Mordecai followed after her. They both helped him to his feet, "Dad are you ok".

Frank opened his eyes and looked up at his daughter, "Never better" he chuckled. The touching moment was cut short by the roaring sound of Marauders charging into the park towards them, "We need to get to the helicopter" he shouted. Mordecai and Margret helped Frank towards the helicopter.

"Kill them" Havoc yelled from the ground to his troupes.

Mordecai looked back and saw them closing in, so he lit one of his molotovs and threw it. It crashed into the ground and created a wall of flames between them.

Havoc howled out in anger, "Get the ballista".

The three finally arrived at the helicopter, "What did he say" Mordecai asked as they sat Frank inside.

"It sounded like he said 'get the ballista'" Frank answered as he crawled to the pilot's seat.

"What the hell's a _**ballista**_"?

As soon as the words left Mordecai's mouth the Marauders started to roll what looked like a giant wooden crossbow on wheels into sight.

Frank looked back at Mordecai, "_**That**_"

As they were loading a large spear like arrow into the ballista Mordecai and Margret quickly got into the chopper, "Are you ok to fly Frank" Mordecai asked worriedly.

The blades began to spin as Frank started the engine, "Do we have any other option"?

Mordecai shook his head as the chopper lifted off the ground, they slowly rose into the air. Then suddenly The Feral fired the ballista at them.

"Hold on" Frank yelled as he quickly jarred the helicopter out of the arrows path, but the rocky movement caused Margret to fall out, "Margret"!

She grabbed onto the skids as she dangled above the ground, Mordecai quickly reached out, "Take my hand". Margret pulled herself up and grabbed his hand, he pulled her back into the chopper and walked her over to the other seat, "Sit". Margret followed his instructions and sat down, as they flew away Mordecai looked back. The fire from the Molotov spread and now engulfed most of the park. As they exited the city he breathed a sigh of relief. Then suddenly the helicopter started to plummet as an alarm blared, "What's going on"?

"Those bastards burned up all the fuel" he said as he meddled with the wheel, "We're going down".

"What" Mordecai shouted in disbelief, he went through all this work just to die in a helicopter crash. Frank did his best to lesion the impact, but the chopper hit the ground and rolled several times. Mordecai was thrown around the chopper before getting thrown out. He slowly lifted himself up and looked at the flaming wreckage of the crash, "Oh no".

He ran up to the crash site expecting the worst, when he arrived Margret was crawling from the wreckage, "Mordecai" she managed to say before coughing, "My dad's still in there". Mordecai didn't say a word, he just crawled in and made his way to Frank. Frank was groaning in pain and seemed to be struggling to stay conscious. Mordecai grabbed him and carefully carried him out of the chopper and laid him on the ground. Then the severity of his injuries became noticeable. He had several lacerations all over his body, he was coughing up blood, and he had severe burns over most of his body. How he sustained such injuries while Margret's were minor baffled him.

"Daddy" Margret said as she leaned in towards him.

"Margret" Frank said, coughing up more blood, "I know you don't want to hear this but… I'm not gonna pull through this time".

"No" she screamed out, tears pouring down her face.

"Margret" he said as he lifted his hand up to her face, "This isn't the life I want for you… I don't want you roaming this world alone. Promise me, you'll settle down somewhere. Start a quiet, peaceful life with other people".

Margret sniffed as she lifted her hand up to his. She nodded, "Ok".

"I love you" he choked out with blood dripping down his chin.

"I love you too dad" Margret cried out.

Frank then looked over at Mordecai, "Mordecai" he leaned in closer to him, "You're a good man, and I'm glad I got to meet you". Frank held his hand out.

Mordecai looked at it in disbelief, he lifted his hand up and shook it, "Me too sir".

"Promise me you'll take care of her" Frank groaned out painfully, "Take her to that settlement you were talking about and make sure she's safe".

Mordecai started to choke up from his final request, "I will".

"Good" Frank said as he rested his head against the ground, "Now I just want to spend my last moments listening to the sound of nature with my daughter".

Mordecai nodded as he stood up and walked away to give them some privacy. Margret took her father's hand and held it tight, she could feel him holding on tightly too. They both sat there and listened to the peaceful silence. After a few minutes Frank's chest stopped moving, and Margret felt his hand go limp. When she realized he was finally gone she broke down. She leaned over his body and began to sob, her tears dripped from her face onto his chest.

Mordecai walked over to her and placed his arm on her shoulder, "I'm so sorry Margret"

Margret looked up at him, "It's not your fault, you did what you could" she wiped the tears from her eyes, "I just don't like the thought of leaving him here like this, he deserved better".

Mordecai took a second to think, "You're right". He walked over to the wrecked helicopter and crawled in. After a minute he emerged with a shovel in his hand, "Let's give him a proper burial".

* * *

Mordecai packed the last bit of dirt onto the grave with the shovel. He laid it on the ground and wiped the sweat from his forehead, then he stuck a makeshift cross made from scrap metal in front of the grave. He made his way over to Margret, who was staring at the burial site speechless. They both stood silently, Mordecai looked up and saw the sun rising in the horizon. He cleared his throat before giving his eulogy, "I didn't know Frank for long, but in the little time I did I could tell he was a good, honest man. I'm glad I got the chance to meet him, and he will be truly missed".

Margret slowly turned her head to him, "Thank you Mordecai, that means a lot".

"It's the least I could do" he said before picking up his coat, "We can head back to the settlement whenever you're ready".

Margret looked back at her father's grave and nodded, "I think I'm ready to go". Mordecai turned and started to walk towards the settlement, but Margret walked over to the grave and put her hand on the homemade headstone. A tear dripped from her eye and crashed into the fresh dirt, "Goodbye dad, I love you". She turned and followed Mordecai, but not before looking back one last time on her father's resting place.

* * *

Rigby's eyes slowly opened, he took a moment to adjust to the light as he sat up on the couch. _"Hmm, must have fallen asleep" _he said as he stood up, then he suddenly remembered his missing friend. He ran to his room to see if Mordecai was in his bed, but he was met with an empty room instead. Rigby started to panic and ran all the way from his shack to the watchtower. He quickly scaled the ladder to the top, Fives jumped when he saw Rigby emerge over the edge. Rigby took a moment to catch his breath before looking up at Fives, "Did…did Mordecai come back".

The look on Fives face was one of complete sadness, "I don't know what to tell you Rigby".

"Just answer the question" Rigby blurted out angrily.

Fives took a deep breath as he shook his head, "No… I'm sorry".

Rigby went numb, he just stared at the floor. It felt like there was a weight crushing down on his chest. He turned around and descended from the tower, unsure of what to do he went to talk to Skips, _"Maybe he knows what to do"._

Meanwhile Mordecai led Margret to the marked tree in the thick grove, "We're almost there, this way". He went from tree to tree, following the marks back to the front gate.

"That's pretty clever" Margret commented smiling a little, her eyes were still red from crying.

"Yeah" Mordecai said as they exited the grove, "We need something that could help us find our way back, but wasn't obvious enough for outsiders to follow. They've been doing it long before I got here". Mordecai walked up to the gate and looked up at the watchtower, "Hello"!

Suddenly a pale translucent face peered over the edge, "Mordecai" he said in a surprised yet relieved voice.

"Yeah it's me" he answered, "Could you let us in".

"Sure" Fives said, then he pointed at Margret, "Who's she"?

"This is Margret, she's looking for shelter" he replied.

"Oh, cool. Just give me a second" Mordecai looked as Fives moved out of sight. He waited a few seconds, then the gate slowly lifted up. Fives leaned back over the edge again, "There you go, head right in".

Margret and Mordecai walked through the gate into the settlement, "Thanks Fives" Mordecai yelled back at the watchtower.

As they were walking through the settlement Margret looked around at her new surroundings, "This is a nice operation you guys got here".

Mordecai looked over at Margret, "Don't be polite it's a dump, but we do our best".

"It looks like you're doing well".

"We get by" Mordecai replied, "We need to find Benson, he's the one in charge".

As they were walking Margret noticed a short raccoon walking down the path with a depressed look on his face. He was wearing a dark green military jacket with the sleeves rolled up just below the elbow. It was undone with a black shirt underneath. She couldn't read what it said because of the jacket so the only letters she could see were 'is' with the letters 'um' below it. His right hand was wrapped with dirty white bandages up to his wrist. The last thing she noticed about him was his brown baggy pants and bare feet. He glanced over at them and his eyes widened.

He quickly ran over to them, "Mordecai" he yelled loudly as he gasped for breath, "You're back".

"Hey dude" Mordecai said happily before turning to Margret, "This is Margret. Margret this is Rigby, he's my best friend".

"Hi Rigby" Margret said as she extended her hand out to him.

He reached up and shook it, "Hey nice to meet ya" he said unenthusiastically before turning to Mordecai, "So where were you all night dude, I thought you were dead".

"Pfff naw" he said while waving his hand, "I ran into Margret and she needed some help".

"Oh I see" he scoffed while crossing his arms, "So some random chick's more important than you're best bro".

Mordecai let out a loud groan as he rubbed his eyes in frustration, "No, it's nothing like that. I can't just turn my back on a person in need".

"More like you can't turn your back on lady pecks".

Mordecai jabbed Rigby in the arm and pulled him to the side away from Margret. He leaned in towards his ear, "Her dad just died, so be cool".

Rigby lowered his head, he felt bad for acting the way he did towards Margret when she was going through a tough time, "Fine".

"Good" Mordecai said while nodding his head, "Now, I need to talk to Benson so I'll see you later".

"Alright, see ya" Rigby said, then he walked off towards the canteen.

Mordecai made his way to Benson's shack with Margret following behind him. They entered and saw the strange mechanical man sitting behind a desk. He heard them come in and lifted his head up, "Oh hey Mordecai, glad to see you're back".

"Thanks Benson" he replied while walking up to his desk, "So Benson, this is Margret. She needs a safe place to stay so I was wondering…"

"And you were wondering if she could stay here" Benson interrupted.

Mordecai shrugged his shoulders, "Well, yeah".

Benson looked over at Margret for a few seconds, then he turned his sights back to Mordecai. He was silent for a moment as he thought it over, "No, I'm sorry but she's gonna have to leave".

* * *

_**So close no matter how far  
**__**Couldn't be much more from the heart  
**__**Forever trusting who we are  
**__**And nothing else matters**_  
_** Never opened myself this way  
**__**Life is ours, we live it our way  
**__**All these words I don't just say  
**__**And nothing else matters**_  
_** Trust I seek and I find in you  
**__**Every day for us something new  
**__**Open mind for a different view  
**__**And nothing else matters**_

**Author's Note:  
Well that's chapter 2, I hope you all enjoyed it. A special thanks to everyone who left reviews for chapter 1, it means a lot. I'll work on making future chapters longer too. I'm gonna point out a few thing real quick before I finish here. First the name 'Cry Havoc' for The Feral leader is from the saying 'cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war', fitting since he's a wolf and the leader of a group of canine mutants. Secondly the song Rigby's listening to is 'For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) by AC/DC from the album of the same name (and it is the first track). Finally the footnote for this chapter is from 'Nothing Else Matters' by Metallica. See you again in chapter 3.  
(the numbers _aren't_ meaningless)  
**


	3. Rack Em' Up

**Author's Note:  
In chapter two Margaret loses her dad in a helicopter crash and now Benson's not going to let her stay at the settlement, now that's a bad day. This chapter we'll find out if Benson has a change of heart and I finally learn how to spell Margaret's name right, bout time. I do not own Regular Show or it's characters and I'm running out a quips to make on the subject.  
Let there be chapter three.**

* * *

The situation is much more severe than we initially thought. It seems that Nosoi is evaporating into a gaseous form.  
Not only does this mean that it's now airborne, but it is mixing with various weather systems.  
This means that the area of effect will be much larger than anticipated and containing it will be next to impossible.  
The chemical will be heavily diluted the farther reaches, but it only takes exposure to a small amount to cause irreversible damage.  
I'm still holding on to hope that we can contain the situation before mass exposure, but it'll be more challenging than I originally imaged.

_**User ID 4261986- 2 days after incident **_

* * *

"What do you mean no" Mordecai yelled at Benson.

"I mean no, what else would I mean by it" Benson sneered.

"But why?" asked Mordecai.

Benson let out a quiet sigh, "Because we don't have enough supplies".

Mordecai threw his arms up in anger, "Oh, like one extra person is that big a deal".

"_**Uh**_, yeah it is" Benson scoffed back, "we're dangerously low on food, especially since both you and Rigby didn't bring anything back".

Mordecai turned to Margaret and walked her to the door, "Margaret, can you wait outside. I'm gonna try to talk some sense into him".

Margaret clearly wasn't happy with his request, but decided to listen to him, "Ok". She walked out of the shack and Mordecai closed the door behind her.

He then walked back to Benson, he put his hands on his desk and leaned in towards him, "Benson, she just lost her father. And now you won't even give her a place to stay. That's messed up".

"I didn't know that" Benson said with a hint of guilt in his voice, "But it doesn't change my decision".

Mordecai took his hands of his desk and stood up, "Ok, you say one more person is too much. Fine, Margaret stays and I'll leave".

Benson was shocked by his words, "Mordecai don't do this" Benson implored.

"No, I'm serious" Mordecai shouted back to Benson, "I promised her dad I'll make sure she's safe, I swore on his death bed. She can take my place".

"Mordecai we need you, who's going to hunt?".

Mordecai crossed his arms, "Margaret can do that, she can do all the things I used to, maybe even better".

Benson rubbed his eyes in frustration, "Fine, she can stay. You _**both**_ can stay".

A big smirk appeared on Mordecai's face, "Thanks Benson".

"But you have to promise me you'll be more successful on your hunts" Benson added, "And Margaret has to help out too".

"No problem Benson" Mordecai said happily, "We'll both be super productive".

Benson nodded at him, "Good, can you bring her in real quick".

Mordecai turned and walked to the door, he poked his head outside and saw Margaret leaned up against the shack. He motioned her to come in, so she followed him inside. They both walked up to Benson's desk, "Margaret, Mordecai talked me into letting you stay".

A smile came across her face as she clapped her hands together, "Thanks Benson".

"But you'll have to pull your weight around here, we all do our part" He bluntly added.

"Oh absolutely" Margaret nodded, "I'll do whatever you need me to do".

"Good" Benson said, "I think we need another person to work at the canteen".

This job wasn't what Margaret wanted to hear, "Canteen? But Benson I can do so much more than that".

"Yeah Benson" Mordecai chimed in, "There's got to be something more fitting for her skills than that".

"I'm sorry, but Eileen needs help at the canteen" Benson sternly said, "That's the best I can do".

Mordecai looked over at Margaret, she was fuming. He could understand why she was so upset, but the more he thought about it the more he felt it would be for the best. He put his hand on her shoulder and pulled her to the side, "Look, I know you were hoping for something more exciting but maybe this is a good thing. I mean, your dad wanted you live a quiet life. The canteen might be the best way to do that".

Margaret lowered her head and stared at the floor, he regretted bringing her dad into it. He didn't think it through, it was only hours earlier that he died. Then to his surprise she looked up at him, "You're right" she said with a tear trickling down her cheek, "It's what he would have wanted". She brushed past him and walked up to the desk, "Ok, I'll do it".

Benson nodded his head at her, "Alright, I'm sorry I didn't have anything better. If anything else comes up I'll let you know". Benson's words made her feel much better and she cracked a small smile. This also caused Benson to smile a bit as he turned towards Mordecai, "Mordecai, show her around the settlement. Introduce her to others and help her settle in".

"You got it" Mordecai said cheerfully as he walked Margaret to the door. They exited the shack and walked three buildings down before Mordecai looked back at Margaret, "If Benson wants me to introduce you to everyone then I think it makes sense to start with his right hand man". They entered the small shack and were greeted by the smell of burning incense. Margaret looked around and noticed the room was decorated with dream catchers and weird artifacts. Mordecai inspected the room as well and noticed that no one was there, "Hmm, guess he's not here".

He was about the turn around and leave when Skips entered the shack. He was wiping grease from his hands when he noticed the two, "Oh hey Mordecai, glad you're back" he said as he threw the cloth into a small basket "What can I do for you?"

"Hey Skips, I was just showing Margaret around and acquainting her with everyone" He explained before turning towards Margaret, "Margaret this is Skips he helps Benson, he also does repairs and maintains all the machines in the settlement".

Margaret looked up at the large man, "Wow, that's impressive".

"Well I just do maintenance on the machines" Skips said modestly, "Techmo's the one who designs them all".

"Don't sell yourself short Skips" A voice yelled from outside, soon tall man entered the shack, "I couldn't do it without you… I mean I could but it'd be a pain". Margaret looked at Techmo, he appeared almost reptilian with green scaly skin, he had white hair and wore a black trench coat that appeared to be made of leather. What stood out to her the most was his cybernetic eye and bionic arm which was exposed by the right sleeve of his jacket being ripped off.

Skips smiled and shook his head at his remark, "Do you just sense when people are talking about you?"

"Only if it's flattering" Techmo joked, he glanced over at Margaret, "Who's this?"

"Margaret" Skips answered, "Mordecai was showing her around".

Techmo approached her and held out his hand, "Nice to meet you Margaret. I'm Techmo, the settlements personal technomancer".

"That's just a word he made up" Skips interjected, "It's just his way of saying he designs most of the machines and tech stuff".

Techmo shrugged, "Well I can't say you're wrong, but when you've been through the things that we've been through the past two centuries you can call yourself whatever you want" he chuckled.

His statement baffled Margaret, "Wait, two centuries? How's that possible?"

Skips turned to Margaret, "Well you see, when we were changed by that chemical weapon all those years ago it drastically slowed our aging" Skips told her, "People like us are referred to as 'immortals' but theoretically we could live for hundreds of years".

She looked up at Skips in awe, "_**Whoa**_, how many of you are there?"

"Including me and Techmo, three, but I'd assume there'd be more that we don't know of" Skips answered.

"Who's the third one"?

"A crazed man who calls himself 'Death'" Skips answered in a foreboding tone.

A quiet snicker escaped from Margaret's beak, "Death, seriously?"

"Yes" Skips nodded, "After the outbreak he went insane, he became convinced that he was the fourth horseman and that one day it'd be his duty to spread death and destruction to the world" Margaret's amused expression was replaced with one of discomfort. "If you ever cross paths with him, _**run**_, or he'll stop at nothing to kill you". She didn't say anything, all she was able to do was nod.

"_**Well**_ I think we'll be on our way then" Mordecai said trying to break the awkward silence, "Nice talk Skips". He then lead Margaret to the door and exited the shack.

"Sure thing" Skips said while they left, "And welcome to the settlement Margaret!"

The two walked down the street and after a few quiet moments Margaret looked at Mordecai, "So Skips seemed… _**interesting**_".

He turned his head towards her, "Yeah, he's seen a lot of things in his life. Sorry it got kinda weird in there, he's actually really cool most of the time".

"Oh I believe it, I bet he has all kinds of crazy stories" Margaret replied.

"You have no idea" Mordecai chuckled, "He's seen it all, the outbreak, the fall of the old civilization, he even…" Mordecai was cut off when someone ran into him and knocked him to the ground. He looked from the dirt and saw an older gentleman with a large round pink head. He had no hair except for a white handlebar mustache.

"Oh dear, are you ok Mordecai" He asked as he reached his hand out, "My deepest apologies".

Mordecai grabbed his hand and he helped him up, "It's ok Pops" he assured him as he dusted himself off, "But why were you running?"

A large grin appeared on Pops' face, "Oh, I was chasing this butterfly" he held up his finger and suddenly a butterfly with blue wings landed on it, causing Pops and chuckle, "Isn't it beautiful?"

"It's very pretty" Margaret said as she leaned in towards the butterfly.

"Oh my, who's this young lady Mordecai" Pops asked as the butterfly flew away.

"This is Margaret" answered Mordecai, "She's gonna be staying here now so I'm giving her a tour".

Pops took Margaret's hand and shook it while chuckling happily, "Good show, welcome to our home".

Margaret couldn't help but laugh at his childlike personality, "Thanks, pleased to meet you".

Pops let go of her hand and turned to Mordecai, "Well I have to go tend to my garden, ta ta" and with that he ran off.

Mordecai and Margaret continued to walk, and Margaret was still laughing from her encounter with the delightful old man, "He seems nice".

"Yeah he is, Pops is always happy" Mordecai answered.

A confused looked crept on Margaret's face, "So, is he… your dad?"

Mordecai looked over at her, "No" he frowned, "My dad died a long time ago".

Margaret cupped her hands over her mouth, "I'm so sorry Mordecai, I just thought because you called him…"

"It's ok Margaret" he interrupted, "You didn't know".

The two continued to walk until Margaret remembered something she heard the day before, "Did it have anything to do with the Feral?". Mordecai stopped dead in his tracks. He stood silently, staring at the ground. "I heard what Havoc said to you back at the park so I figured you had a history with them".

"I do" Mordecai answered quietly without breaking his gaze at the ground, "But he died before that. I'm sorry but I don't want to talk about it right now".

Mordecai started walking again, "Ok, sorry I brought it up" Margaret said as she started to follow him, "So why did you call that guys Pops then?"

Mordecai smiled as he looked back at her, "Because his round pink head and skinny body make him look like a lollipop".

Margaret ran to catch up with him, "Jerk!" she yelled as she shoved him, "That's so mean, why would you do that".

"I didn't start it" Mordecai said defensively, "They've been calling him that long before I got here".

Margaret crossed her arms and diverted her eyes from him, "Whatever".

Mordecai signed heavily as they approached the canteen, "Well here it is, the canteen" he said while holding his hands out as if it was an amazing spectacle.

"Oh, it's magnificent" Margaret laughed.

They entered the shack which was filled with tables, at one of them Rigby sat sipping from a glass of lemonade. The two walked over and sat down across from him, "Hey Rigby" Mordecai greeted.

"Hey" Rigby said quickly before taking another sip of his drink.

"You already met Rigby so I'm not gonna bother introducing you two again" Mordecai chuckled.

"_**Ah**_ what?" Rigby scoffed, "What's that about"

"Nothing" Mordecai answered, "There's just that much about you to explain".

"No, it's cool" Rigby sneered as he crossed his arms, "I just guess I'm not important enough to talk about".

Mordecai slapped his hand against his forehead as he groaned loudly, "fine" he turned to Margaret, "Rigby's the scavenger, he goes out and gathers supplies. He also helps me do small chores that Benson gives us".

"Wow, that's very cool" Margaret said pretending to be interested to make Rigby feel better, but it came off as disingenuous. Fortunately for her he didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah it is, isn't it" he gloated. Rigby went to take another drink from his glass when he suddenly rolled his eyes, "_**Uhg**_, not her again"

Mordecai and Margaret stared blankly at him confused by his random statement, but then their question was answered when Eileen arrived at the table, "Hey Mordecai, how's it going?"

"Not too bad" he answered, then he pointed to Margaret, "Eileen this is Margaret, she's gonna be working here with you".

Her face beamed when he informed her of her new coworker, "That's great, I've needed the help for a while now". She stretched her hand out to Margaret, "Nice to meet you Margaret" Margaret reached out and shook her hand, "I'm Eileen, but you probably already knew that on account of Mordecai saying my name when he was introducing me to you" she let out a quiet snicker.

"Well it's nice to meet you too Eileen" Margaret chuckled.

Eileen then looked over at Mordecai, "Anything I could get for you guys?"

"I'll just have some lemonade, do you want anything Margaret?" she shook her head, "Just the lemonade then Eileen".

"Alright, I'll be back with that in a sec" she turned around and walked back to the kitchen.

"_**Finally**_" Rigby groaned, "I thought she'd never leave".

Margaret shot Rigby a sinister glare, "Rigby, what's your problem with her? She seems nice".

"Oh, Rigby's just annoyed because she has a thing for him" Mordecai chuckled.

"_**Ahh**_, that's adorable" Margaret replied.

"Shut it" Rigby scoffed.

"You should go for it dude, you'd make a cute couple" Mordecai teased.

"_**Stop talking!**_" Rigby yelled furiously. He started punching Mordecai's arm repeatedly, which Mordecai just ignored, until Eileen returned to the table.

"Here you go Mordecai" she said as she placed the glass on the table.

Mordecai picked up his glass, "Thanks" he said before taking a huge sip.

"No problem" she then turned to Margaret, "Hey Margaret, I can show you around the canteen if you want" Eileen said as she let go of her hand, "Let you know how things work".

"_**Uhhh**_" Margaret looked over at Mordecai.

"Go for it" Mordecai said, "I already introduced you to everyone important anyway".

"Ok" Margaret said as she turned to Eileen. She stood up and followed Eileen back into the kitchen, leaving Mordecai and Rigby alone at the table.

Mordecai looked back and watched Margaret as she walked away, he smiled as he turned back to find Rigby giving him a funny look, "What?"

"Dude, you're pathetic" Rigby sneered.

"Huh?"

"You've only known her for like a day and you're already falling for her" Rigby chuckled, "That's sad".

Mordecai narrowed his eyes into a glared, "I'm not 'falling for her', and even if I was it's not of your business".

"Hmmm-Hmmm, yeah right" Rigby said before taking a sip from his glass.

Mordecai was about to respond but before he could get a word out Benson stormed into the canteen and approached them, "Hey Mordecai, are you done showing Megan around?"

He looked up at his boss, "Her names Margaret, and yes".

"Good, because a tree fell through the back wall of the settlement and I need you guys to clean it up so Skips can rebuild it" he elaborated.

"Ah what?" Mordecai groaned, "How are we supposed to do that?"

"By cutting the tree into smaller pieces and moving said pieces to the wood pile" Benson answered.

"But that'll take all day" Rigby whined.

Benson glared at him, "Well then I guess you better get started".

"Can't somebody else do it" Mordecai asked, "I just got back like an hour ago".

The liquid in Benson's dome turned red as it started to boil again, "No, somebody else can't do it because I told you to do it. Now get it done before sundown or your both _**exiled!**_" He then turned around and charged out of the canteen.

"_**Uhg**_, can you believe that guy?" Rigby droned.

"I know, but you heard him. We need to do it" Mordecai added.

"Fine" Rigby replied, "Quick round of Dig Champs first?"

Mordecai grinned from ear to ear, "Hell yeah".

* * *

Nearly a month had passed since Margaret arrived at the settlement and she was adjusting well. Over the few weeks she got to know everyone, and she especially grew close to Eileen, Rigby, and Mordecai. Despite how happy she was with her new life there were still a few things that plagued her mind. She longed for adventure, she missed the action and thrill of exploring new areas, but was unable to because of the promise she made to her dad whose death was still weighing heavy on her. Every now and then Eileen would be woken up during the night by the sound of Margaret crying in her room because of a dream she would have about her father. Despite this she enjoyed living in the settlement, she felt like she belonged.

One morning she woke up just like she always would, she got up and walked into the living room where Eileen would already be waiting for her. She got ready and the two leaved for work, but something was off this morning. The streets were virtually empty, they continued to walked through the deserted settlement. The absence of people was unnerving, "Where is everyone?" Margaret asked Eileen.

"I don't know" she answered, "I've never seen it this dead before".

They stayed on course to the canteen. The scenery gradually got brighter as the morning sun slowly crept over the horizon, illuminating the already unsettling sight. When they arrived at the canteen they entered to find Mordecai already waiting inside. "You're up early" Eileen said trying to act cheery, "You going out on a hunt I'm assuming".

"Yeah" Mordecai answered groggily, "I'll have some eggs and a glass of orange juice, you know, the usually".

"You got it" Eileen said before walking back to the kitchen.

While Eileen was cooking Mordecai's breakfast Margaret sat down across from him, "Hey Mordecai, do you know where everyone's at?"

Mordecai let out a big yawn, "What do you mean?"

"I mean there's nobody out on the streets today" she explained.

Mordecai thought about what she said for a moment, "You know now that you mention it I didn't see anyone on my way here".

"I know right" Margaret replied, a little concerned.

"Don't worry about it" Mordecai reassured, "I'm sure everything's fine".

Soon after Eileen walked up to the table with a plate holding a pile of scrambled eggs, "Here you go Mordecai, this should help fuel you up for the day" she said, giggling a bit at the end.

"Thanks" he said, then he started to eat his meal.

About halfway through the mountain of eggs Benson walked into canteen, he looked extremely worried, "Mordecai the hunt is off, I need you to wake Rigby up and meet me in my office pronto".

"Sure" Mordecai responded, baffled by his request, "What's going on?"

"I'll explain at the office, just hurry up and get Rigby." Benson said before turning to the two waitresses, "Margaret and Eileen you two should go home" he then ran out of the canteen.

Mordecai quickly stood up and looked at the girls, "I got to go, this seems really important" he turned around and made his exit.

Margaret looked down and her smaller friend, "We need to check this out".

Eileen stared up at her, "But Benson told us to go home, I'm curious too but I think we should listen to him".

"I'm sorry Eileen, but I can just go home and wonder what's going on. I'm going to go to his office and listen in, are you with me?"

Eileen thought about it for a moment before nodding her head, "Ok, I'm in".

Margaret gave her a nod back and the two left and made their way to Benson's shack, they waited across the street and watched to small building until Mordecai and Rigby finally arrived. They looked as the two entered his office, "Now" Margaret whispered. The two then shuffled across to the shack and crept by the door to listen.

Inside Benson, Skips, Techmo, and Pops sat around Benson's desk. Mordecai and Rigby walked up and took a seat as well. Once they were seated Benson leaned forward onto his desk, "Mordecai, Rigby, thanks for coming".

"What's going on?" Mordecai asked.

"Yeah, what's so important that you woke me this early" Rigby scoffed still half asleep, at least until he was woken up by Mordecai jabbing his arm.

Benson took a deep breath, "Guys, I don't know how to tell you this, but the settlement's been hit by an epidemic".

"What!" Mordecai shouted in shock.

"It's true" Pops said in a disheartened voice.

"It started about a week ago, we thought people were just getting colds but then the symptoms got more severe" Benson explained, "By the time we realized our mistake it spread though out the entire colony".

"Wait, then why aren't we infected?" Rigby asked.

"Well, you two aren't infected because for some reason the sickness only infects mutated humans, not mutated animals" he answered, "And the reason Skips and Techmo aren't infected is because even though they were human they adapted animal traits".

"What about Pops?" asked Mordecai. Skips, Techmo, and Benson all shared a look, as if they were trying to think of what to say. But Mordecai figured it out first, "No, Pops is…"

"I'm afraid so" Skips interrupted, "He was one of the last to get infected, he has about twenty four hours before he develops the advance symptoms ".

Rigby threw his arms into the air in frustration, "Well what are we supposed to do?"

"We need to find a way to stop it" Techmo answered, "I looked at a sample of infected blood under a microscope and it seems to be caused by a unique type of bacteria. So we need to get our hands on some powerful antibiotics to treat the infected".

"Can't we just use mold" Rigby suggested, "Isn't mold an antibiotic or something?"

"Not quite" replied Techmo, "If we're going to treat this we need actual medicine".

"How the hell are we going to get our hands on that?" Mordecai yelled.

Suddenly Margaret burst into the office, "I know where we can find some".

Everyone's eyes turned to her, "Margaret, what are you doing here? I told you to go home" Benson asked as the liquid in his head started to simmer.

"It doesn't matter" Margaret argued, "I know where to get the antibiotics".

Skips looked over at Benson whose dome was now filled with a bubbling red fluid, he put his hand on his shoulder, "Hear her out Benson".

Benson looked up at Skips, soon the fluid in his dome returned to its regular state as he turned to Margaret, "Go on".

"There's this other colony about two days walk from here, They were well stocked on medical supplies" Margaret explained, "If you send someone over there they could trade for some antibiotics".

Benson rubbed the base of his dome as he pondered on the idea, "Hmm, two days?".

"It's the best option we have Benson" Skips told him.

"Yeah" Techmo agreed, "If we send someone to get the medicine we'll have enough supplies to treat the patients until he gets back".

This didn't sit well with Benson, but he knew he was out of options, "Fine, Mordecai you go get the antibiotics" he then turned to Margaret, "Margaret, can you write down the directions to this other settlement?"

A smirk crept onto Margaret's face, "I'll do you one better, I'll go with him".

Benson slammed his fist against his desk, "Absolutely not".

"Look Benson, I know the way and it'll be better than some homemade map" Margaret argued, "Plus if you send more people there's a better chance of at least somebody coming back with the medicine".

Benson let out a loud groan, as much as he hated to admit…she had a point, "Fine, you go with him".

Margaret smile and pumped her fist victoriously.

Rigby looked at Mordecai and remembered what it was like less than a month ago when he didn't return from his hunt. The uncertainty of whether or not he was dead or alive, he knew he didn't want to go through that again, "I'm going too".

"You know what, whatever" Benson scoffed, "The more the merrier I guess".

Shortly after saying that Eileen ran into the office, "Then count me in too".

"Eileen?" Benson said in bewilderment, "Why do you want to go?"

"I have medical experience" Eileen answered, "My mother was a nurse so I could act as a medic on the trip".

Benson rubbed his eyes in annoyance, "I'm done arguing, you can all go!"

Eileen looked over at Margaret and the two high fived, all to the dismay of Rigby, _"Oh no!. why does she have to come with?"_.

"Alright, if you're all going to do this then you need to leave _**now!**_" Benson yelled and the group, "And I can't stress how important this is ok, this isn't a _**'road trip'**_. This is an important mission, got it?"

"Yeah, got it" Mordecai answered.

"Ok, now _**go!**_" Benson shouted causing the four to run out of the shack.

After they left Benson laid back in his chair and sighed, Skips walked up to Benson and patted him on the back, "Don't worry, you can count on them".

"I hope so Skips" Benson spoke quietly, "The future of this settlement depends on it".

* * *

The four hiked across the hills with Margaret letting the group. They'd been walking for a few hours already and Rigby just about had it, "_**Uhg**_, I'm _**soo **_tired" he whined as they scaled up a hill.

"Cut it out Rigby" Mordecai scoffed a few steps ahead of him, "She said it'd be a two day walk, you knew what you were getting yourself into!"

"I didn't know anything" Rigby shot back at Mordecai, "Can we at least take a quick break?"

Mordecai glared back at his lazy friend, "Sure, if you're ok with it taking four days because you have to stop every couple hours!"

"Oh like one short break would slow us down that much" Rigby huffed as he struggled to reach the top of the hill.

Soon they made it to the peak of the hill, they looked into the distance at the plains with a thick forest to their right. Mordecai took a second to reach into his pack, "Here" he said as he pulled out a bottle of water "Just drink some water and you'll be fine". He tossed the water bottle to Rigby, who barely caught it because he wasn't paying attention, "Now we need to make it last so don't…" while Mordecai was talking Rigby unscrewed the lid and chugged about half of the bottle in mere second before pouring some on his hot face before Mordecai snatched it out of his hands, "Damn it Rigby, this has to last us _**two days**_. Do you know how hard it is to find clean water out here?"

Eileen proceeded to open her bag revealing several containers of water, "Don't worry Mordecai, I brought plenty of water".

This did little to calm him down, "Thanks Eileen, but that doesn't excuse Rigby for being so wasteful. He didn't know that".

Margaret turned around to face Mordecai and Rigby, "You two stop, we don't have time for this" she spun around and pointed at the woods, "Now, if I remember correctly the other settlement is on the other side of the forest".

"If you 'remember correctly'?" Rigby asked doubtfully, "What if you _**don't**_ remember correctly?"

Margaret looked back at him and gave him a sinister smirk, "Well then I guess we'll be wondering the woods until we starve to death" she patted him on the head and made her way down the hill.

Rigby just stood there for a moment with a befuddled look on his face, when he finally snapped out of it he noticed he was alone on the hill as the others already started their descent. Rigby ran to catch up with the others, but running downhill caused him pick up to much speed and he lost his balance and fell. He tumbled down the hill almost hitting Mordecai before he jumped out of the way. He reached the bottom when he finally came to a stop. He didn't move, he just laid there face down in the dirt groaning loudly. The other three busted out laughing at Rigby's fall as they made it to the bottom.

Rigby slowly lifted himself up, he grabbed his left shoulder in pain and rolled it. Eileen made her way to Rigby, still laughing from before, "Let me take a look at that" she said as she put her hands on his injured shoulder.

"Get off me" Rigby yelled as he jerked his body out of her hands and stormed away.

Eileen shook her head, rubbing her eyes in frustration. Margaret ran in front of the group, "Ok everyone, this way". And with that they all followed her lead into the thick woods.

* * *

They all trekked through the forest along an old path, they were all exhausted as the hours past. It was quiet in the woods, but Margaret couldn't shake this feeling that they were being watched. It was getting late and the sun was starting to set, "It's starting to get dark, we should set up camp here" Mordecai said as he sat his bag down.

"Good idea" Margaret replied doing the same. They crafted a fire pit out of large rocks and proceeded to fill it with dried logs and sticks.

After finishing the fire pit Mordecai turned around to see Rigby going through his pack, "_**Uhh**_, what are you doing?"

Rigby lifted his head up from the bag, "Looking for the matches".

"What?"

Rigby went back to digging through the bag, "Yeah you can't start a fire without matches, where'd you put them?"

"I told _**you**_ to bring them!" Mordecai shouted at Rigby.

Rigby brought his head out of the bag, "What, no you didn't"

Mordecai threw his arms above his head, "Yeah I did, it was the one thing I specifically told you to bring!" he yelled absolutely livid, "Now we have no light, no heat, and nothing to cook with".

"Don't worry guys, I got it" Mordecai and Rigby turned around to see Eileen sitting next to a roaring fire.

"Oh nice you brought matches" Mordecai said relieved.

"No, I just did it the traditional way" Eileen said holding up a stick and a notched piece of wood.

"_**Whoa**_, how did you learn to do that?" Margaret asked.

Eileen turned towards Margaret, "My dad taught me, we spent a lot of time in the woods when I was a kid before we found the settlement".

Rigby was stunned, "Wait, you mean you can start a fire where ever you want, whenever you want?"

"Well, I'd need some dry wood, but essentially yeah" Eileen answered.

A small smile crept onto his face, "Wow, that actually pretty cool".

Her face lit up, Rigby never gave her a complement before. Rigby noticed her reaction and was afraid she'd get the wrong idea, thinking fast he pulled out a plastic bag of venison from Mordecai's backpack, "Here, throw this on the fire" he threw the bag at her.

Unprepared for the toss the bag of meat hit her in the face, it then fell into her hands. She readjusted her glasses and looked down at it, "Wow, these are really good cuts of meat".

"Yeah, Mordecai gets first pick" Rigby explained.

Mordecai shrugged his shoulders, "Just one of the perks of being a hunter". He then pulled out a metal spit and walked over to Eileen. He took the bag from her and skewed the venison onto the rod before setting up a rotisserie over the flame. He sat beside the fire and turned the meat until it was cooked all the way through. He took it off the fire and passed a piece to everyone.

As they were eating it became extremely quiet. All they could hear was the sound of crickets chirping and the crackling of the fire. After a long period of silence Mordecai decided to start a conversation, "So Margaret, what's this colony like?"

Margaret took a second to finish the bite that she just took before answering, "Pretty nice, there's a lot more people there and it's well stocked. Me and my dad stopped there awhile back to trade for supplies".

"Oh, cool" Mordecai looked into the fire, he was watching the glowing embers when a question crossed his mind, "If it was so nice, then why didn't you guys stay there?"

Margaret looked over at him, she didn't say anything for a bit but then she let out a deep sigh, "Like I said before, we didn't really like dealing with other people that much".

"So you didn't like the people there?" Mordecai asked.

Margaret shook her head, "No, not really, but the lead was kind of a dick. _**He**_ was hard to get along with".

"Really?" Mordecai said in a shocked tone, "Then what makes you think he'll give us their medical supplies?"

"Because" Margaret said before taking a sip from her water, "If we can make him a good offer on them then he'll be glad to trade".

"I hope so" Mordecai said before taking another bite of his food, "Otherwise this whole trip's been for nothing".

On the other side of the fire Eileen leaned over towards Rigby, who was still eating his food, "How's the shoulder doing?"

"Better I guess" Rigby mumbled with his mouth full of food.

"I still think you should let me take a look at it" Eileen said sternly, "You might need to put it in a sling".

Rigby looked up from his food and turned towards her, "Eileen seriously, it's fine. Don't worry about it" he said rather annoyed. Eileen frowned as she went back to eating, and for once Rigby actually felt guilty for snapping at her and decided to cut her a break, "Hey nice work with the fire earlier, we'd be pretty screwed without it".

Eileen didn't say anything, she just continued eating. But a smile slowly crept on her face. Suddenly she felt something hit her head, she looked up and soon something fell onto her face. Soon rain began to pour from the sky, "Oh no, it's starting to rain!"

They all stood up and tried to cover their heads from the rain, Mordecai turned to Rigby, "Rigby, get the tents".

"_**Uhh**_"

"Rigby, what are you waiting for?" Mordecai yelled at him.

"I didn't bring em" Rigby replied.

"What, why not?" shouted Mordecai.

Rigby quickly pointed his finger at him, "Hey, you never said anything about tents".

Mordecai slapped his forehead, "Well great, what are we going to do now?"

"Maybe we can build a shelter" Eileen said while constructing a frame from old sticks, "Everyone grab as many dead branches as you can".

They all scattered to collect branches to finish the shelter. Margaret ran over to some trees and started to gather sticks, when she couldn't see any more lying on the ground she reached up and grabbed a branch on one of the trees. As she broke it off it revealed the head of a buck which startled her. "Oh, it's just a deer" she reached out and grabbed another branch, but suddenly a hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

"Get hands off branches" the deer yelled out. Margaret screamed in shock as she jerked out of his grasp, falling to the ground and dropping her sticks in the process. Then a creature emerged from the shrubs, it was large and manlike, with hooved feet and a deer head. His chest had weird tribal symbols tattooed and branded onto it. He slowly stepped towards Margaret, "You not welcome to my forest".

Margaret crawled back as he advanced towards her, "We're not here to hurt you, we're just passing through".

The Stagman suddenly stopped, he tilted his head up and inhaled deeply through his nose. He looked down and glared at Margaret, "Smell good, what is it?"

Margaret froze as she looked up at him, "_**Uhh**_, beef"

"_**Liar!**_" He suddenly thrust downward with a stone blade. Margaret shuffled back out of its way. When he struck the ground between her feet she shot up and kicked him in the face, knocking him back to the ground. She then ran back to the camp site where the others were working on the half-finished shelter, "Guys, stop!" she stopped and leaned over to catch her breath.

Mordecai then ran up to her, "What is it?"

Margaret looked up at him, "There's this man, deer creature that's trying to kill us"

His eyes burst open, "_**What!**_"

Rigby rolled his eyes, "_**Pff**_, I've never seen a mutant deer before"

Mordecai whipped his head towards Rigby, "Why would she make this up" he then turned back to Margaret, "So why's he trying to kill us". Margaret just looked back at the campfire, Mordecai glanced back to see what she was looking at and noticed the venison sitting next to the fire, "Oh shit!"

Then suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder, he looked down to see an arrow sticking out with a crude stone head. Margaret let out a scream in horror, "Mordecai" she yelled while pointing at the arrow protruding from him.

"Yeah, I noticed it" he shouted, "Don't worry it's not fatal, now _**run!**_"

Everyone took off but in different directions. Mordecai ran over to a tree and hid behind it while he held his shoulder in pain. He leaned his back against the tree and whipped is shoulder against it, breaking the back of the arrow off. He then took several breaths before grabbing the front and pulling it out. It slowly dragged out with every inch it moved causing more pain and discomfort. It finally came out and Mordecai breathed a sigh of relief. He went to take a step when a hand popped out from the bush next to him and grabbed his ankle, it pulled it out from underneath him and cause him to fall on his back. The Stagman then leapt out onto Mordecai and raised his stone knife in the air. Think quick Mordecai took the broken arrow and jabbed it into his neck just above the collar bone.

He grabbed his neck and Mordecai punched him in the face, knocking him off of him. He stood up and ran back to the campground to retrieve one of his weapons.

Meanwhile Rigby was wandering the woods, spinning in all directions looking to see if the mutant deer was hiding anywhere. During his paranoid search he heard a voice from the bushes, "_**Psst**_, Rigby over here". He turned to the voice and saw Eileen hiding in one of the bushes, signaling him to come over. Rejoicing that he'd be safe from the creature that was stalking them we ran over to the bush. Then suddenly the Stagman jumped down from one of the trees and landing behind him. Rigby spun around and froze in terror.

"Don't worry" he said menacingly as he drew his knife, "I use all your parts, nothing wasted". Just when Rigby thought it was all over Eileen ran out from the bushes with a large rock in her hand. She swung it and slammed it into his left eye. As he staggered back Eileen grabbed Rigby's arm and they ran. Stagman stood up and looked in their direction, "There much fight in them".

Mordecai arrives at the campsite, he stops and takes a second to look around for his belongings. When he spots them he hustles over to them. He grabbed his sword and unsheathed it, then he hears something behind him. He quickly turned around and saw Rigby and Eileen, "Are you guys ok?" he asked as he lowered his sword.

"We're fine" Eileen answered slightly winding from the run.

"Do you know where he is?" asked Mordecai.

"Yeah Eileen messed him up good way back there" Rigby explained confidently, "He's got a lot of ground to cov…"

While he was talking Stagman leapt from behind a tree and swung his knife at Mordecai, who blocked it with this sword. Their blades were locked and they both struggled to outdo the other, Mordecai was shocked by how strong we was.

Rigby ran over to Mordecai's stuff, "Don't worry Mordecai" he picked up his rifle, "I got this". Rigby pointed the gun at the two with the stock propped against his waist.

Mordecai saw this from the corner of his eye, "_**Nooo!**_"

Rigby fired the gun and the kick knocked him back a few feet into a mud puddle. Mordecai luckily leapt out of the way before Rigby could shoot at him. Unfortunately Stagman was able to escape the path of the bullet as well.

Mordecai grabbed his sword and picked himself up, he then locked eyes with Stagman and he readied his knife, "You think you better than me" Stagman taunted, "I live in forest my whole life".

Mordecai smirked and as he did a quick flourish with his sword, "Well I've been killing your kind my whole life, so bring it".

The two charged at each other. When they met Mordecai swung his sword horizontally towards his chest, Stagman duck and rolled under it and managed to cut Mordecai's right calf. He staggered forwards a bit and fell to his knee. Stagman stood up and grabbed the feathers on Mordecai's head and jabbed his knife into his back muscle. Mordecai yelled out in agony, but he fought through the pain and reached up and grabbed his antlers. With all his might he pulled him forwards flipped him over his shoulders and onto the ground.

Mordecai reached back and pulled out the knife, "You need to quite leaving these things just lying around". Stagman quickly leapt back to his feet and dropped kicked Mordecai in the sternum propelling him back several feet into a tree. Mordecai looked up to see Stagman charging at him with his head tilted down antlers first. Mordecai ducked to the ground so Stagman's antlers hit just above his head. Mordecai glanced up and noticed his left eye was swollen and purple due to the broken socket Eileen gave him, "Nice".

Mordecai slide though his legs and stood up. He turned around and ran towards Stagman, he leapt and planted his foot onto Stag's back and propelled himself into the air above him. He spun around midair and when he final came back down he thrust his elbow down onto Stagman's swollen eye. Stagman stumbled back and fell to one knee, he grabbed his eye and cried out in torment. Mordecai ran towards him and uppercut his eye again. Stag fell to the ground as he moaned, his body trembled from the unbearable pain.

Mordecai walked up and stood over him. He held up the stone knife and prepared for finish him off, but then Stagman jabbed Mordecai in his wounded shoulder. Mordecai staggered back as Stagman stood up, Stag walked over to Mordecai and reached his arm around him and dug his fingers into the knife wound in his back. Mordecai yelled as he felt his fingers burrow deep into the gash. "Good tactic" Stagman stated, "Think I'll try". Stagman tightened his grip and Mordecai couldn't take anymore, his knees gave out and he fell to the ground. He held himself up with his hands as he stared down at the dirt, still shaking from the trauma he just endured.

He looked up to see Stagman in front of him with his knife, he was in so much pain he didn't even realize he dropped it. "To bad" Stagman spoke, "You make good prey". Mordecai lowered his head and anticipated to end of his life, but just when he thought all hope was lost Rigby jumped up onto Stagman's head.

He grabbed his antlers and planted his feet onto his shoulders, he pulled on his antlers so his head would tilt back. "Mordecai _**now!**_"

Mordecai summoned his last ounce of energy and stood up. He looked behind him and saw his swords. He quickly grabbed it and swung it at Stagman. Rigby suddenly fell to the ground and landed on his back. The air was knocked out of him and he felt a weight on top of him. When he looked at what was on top of him he was horrified. It was Stagman's severed head resting upon his stomach, Rigby hurried to his feet. "_**Ah **_disgusting, what the hell man?"

"Chill out dude" Mordecai chuckled, "It's just a dead deer, I see them all the time".

Rigby brushed the dirt off of himself, "It's a little different when it's a damn head sitting on you!"

Mordecai couldn't help but laugh at Rigby's misfortune, but when his laughter died he gave him a more serious look, "Thanks man, you saved my life".

Rigby looked up at Mordecai and cracked a smile, "Don't mention… actually screw that. Mention it all the time".

Mordecai looked back behind Rigby and saw his gun lying in the mud puddle Rigby fell into. He ran over and picked it up to examine it, "_**Ah**_ shit, it's _**way**_ too dirty" he groaned while wiping the barrel off, "I won't be able to use this till I clean it".

After a moment Eileen ran out from behind the tree, "Hey guys, where's Margaret?"

Mordecai and Rigby looked at each other, but they both shrugged their shoulders. Mordecai looked back at her, "I don't know".

"I've been looking and I can't find her" Eileen said apprehensively, "What if that deer guy got her?"

Everyone went quiet for a moment, the thought of Margaret dead was troubling them. Then suddenly Mordecai thought he heard something, "_Shh_, listen".

Everyone listen carefully, a few seconds later they heard a faint voice yelling 'help' in the woods. They all ran towards it and the closer they got it became more recognizable as Margaret. The three finally reached the source of the cries and were met with a humorous sight. Margaret hang upside down from a snare, "Not a word, ok" she scoffed.

Everyone tried their best to not laugh but failed miserably, "What you doing Margaret, just _**hanging**_ out?"

"Seriously dude?" Mordecai asked looking down at Rigby, "You have a shot at a grand slam and you go for the bunt?"

"_**Uhh**_, I hate to interrupt but could someone please _**get me down!**_" Margaret shouted.

They all help her down from the trap, once on the ground Margaret dusted herself off, "We never speak of this again, _**alright?**_"

After helping Margaret they all went back to move to campsite to another location, since no one really wanted to sleep near a headless body. Luckily they found an area where a large rock protruded outward that made a shelter during the rain. Everyone made themselves comfortable and went to sleep, they still had a lot of ground to cover.

* * *

**The blood that runs within my veins**  
** Keeps me from ever ending up the same**  
**The fire that's pushing me on and on and on**  
** To me it's everything and it makes me fucking strong**

** Love me or hate me**  
** I walk alone**

** Been called a monster, called a demon, called a freak**  
** I'm not an idol, not an angel, not a saint**  
**I walk alone, I always have, I'm not ashamed**  
** A living nightmare from the cradle to the grave**

**Author's Note:  
Well that's another chapter come and gone, I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for reading and to all of you who left reviews last chapter. Now to point out a couple things real quick. Like most of you probably noticed a lot of this chapter is inspired by the episode 'Camping Can be Cool' with Stagman and such, just with a more action packed climax. Finally this chapter's footnote is from the song 'Cradle to the Grave' by Five Finger Death Punch.  
Tell next time.**


	4. False Summit

**Author's Note:  
Sorry it's been so long, I won't bore you with the details but basically I moved and didn't have internet. But now I do so here you go, a fresh new chapter out of the ****proverbial oven. Last chapter our hero's embarked on a journey to reach a settlement for medicine and had to fight a dearman monster. Now they hope to finish their quest and return with the needed antibiotics. I do not own Regular Show or its characters. (Also sorry if there are any typos, it's late, I really want to get this up, and I didn't have time to proofread a lot)  
And now, chapter 4  
**

* * *

The spread of the weapon is expansive, it appears to be covering more ground than anticipated.  
Most of the Midwest is exposed now and it is only a matter of time till the rest of the country meets the same fate.  
And now it appears that humans aren't the only species affected, animals exposed seem to be mutating as well.  
Most of them take on more human features which is fascinating, but given the situation we won't be able to look into this further.  
We need to focus on decontaminating effected areas, as well as uncovering the cause of all this.

_**User ID 4261986- 8 days after incident **_

* * *

**Chapter IV  
****False Summit**

Mordecai opened his eyes and adjusted to the light, he was woken from his sleep by the sound of weeping. He sat up and looked over to where the crying was coming from, he saw Margaret tossing and turning on the ground. Mordecai got up and walked over to her, he knelt down and gently shook her shoulder, "Margaret!"

She opened her eyes and looked up at him, "Mordecai?"

"Are you ok?" he asked quietly.

She slowly nodded her head in response, "Yeah, just having a bad dream is all". She sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Yeah, Eileen mentioned you've been having nightmares lately" Mordecai said in empathy, "I'm sorry to hear that".

Margaret rolled up the tarp she was sleeping on and placed it in her pack, "Thanks, but they're not really nightmares" she replied, which threw Mordecai through a loop, "They're actually quite nice, it's usually me and my dad hanging out like we use to. I feel happy… but then I realize it's just a dream and…" she started to choke up.

Mordecai placed his hand on her shoulder, "I understand, I use to have dreams like that after I lost my parents".

"It's just… I thought I would have moved past it by now" she said in frustration, "I mean, it's been a month already!"

Mordecai lowered his head, "You don't move past it, you just learn how to move with it" he then walked over to his supplies, "Just give it time"

While they were packing up their supplies Eileen sat up and stretched her back, letting out a loud yawn as she did so before putting on her glasses, "Oh, you two are up already" she said as she rubbed her eyes, "Why didn't you wake us?"

Margaret looked over at her and smiled, "We had some time to spare so I thought I'd just let you sleep for a bit more".

Eileen got up and started gather up her stuff, "Oh that was nice of you but you didn't have to, I don't want to keep you waiting".

Mordecai let out a loud laugh, "You don't have to worry about that Eileen, if we're gonna be waiting on anybody it'll be…" Mordecai looked over to where Rigby was sleeping, but he wasn't there, "Where the hells Rigby?"

Everyone looked around, but none of them could fine him. After realizing his absence they all started to call his name. After a minute of shouting for him he emerged from the trees, "_**What**_!"

"Rigby, where were you" Eileen asked, "We were worried".

Rigby rubbed is eyes, "I couldn't sleep with all of you guys" he let out a yawn, "Usually I have to deal with just one person snoring, but _**three**_, screw that!"

Mordecai shook his head while rubbing the bridge of his nose, "Whatever dude, just get your stuff read. We need to head out soon".

Rigby began walking towards his pack, "Ok, get all pissy with me for trying to get some sleep!"

"Oh yeah, because you know, it's not like we all got attacked by a crazy dearman last night or anything" Mordecai scoffed facetiously.

They all continued to pack up their supplies, once they were done they followed the rough and haggard path out of the woods and into a large flat plain, "The other settlement is right there" Margaret said as she pointed to the building in the distance.

"Seriously?" Rigby scoffed, "But that's _**soo**_ far"

Mordecai hastily punched Rigby in his shoulder, "Knock it off" and with that they began their long march towards the colony.

* * *

After hours of walking they finally reached the front gates of the settlement. Like Margaret said it was significantly larger than their little operations, possible housing hundreds of people.

"Whoa, this place is huge" Rigby exclaimed in astonishment.

Margaret walked up and cupped her hands around her beak, "_**Hello!**_" she shouted, "We're travelers from another settlement and we wish to trade!". A silence fell upon them for a moment before the large gate began to slowly open, a few men walked out and greeted them, "Right this way".

The four followed the men through the gate as it closed behind them. Everyone was amazed by the quality of the settlement, everything was well constructed and clean. It was as if the city was untouched by the disaster, they continued to follow their escorts until they reached what appeared to be city hall, "Marcus will see you now".

They walked into the building and inside was a large desk with a man sitting behind it, "Can I help you?" he asked in an agitated voice.

Mordecai stepped forward and cleared his throat, "Yeah, we came a long way in hopes that we could trade for some medical supplies, mainly antibiotics".

Marcus looked up at them and shot them an angry glare, "That's not possible, now on your way".

Their jaws dropped, after all they've been through it was all a bust, "You don't understand, we have people _**dying**_ back home" Mordecai implored.

Marcus slammed his fist against his desk, "And you don't understand, we were just hit by bandits a few days ago. They stole most of our supplies so even if I wanted to trade I couldn…" He suddenly stopped and rubbed his chin. After a moment of thinking a grin crept upon his face, "Actually, I may be willing to trade the medicine for a _**task**_".

"I don't like the sound of that" Rigby whispered to Mordecai.

"What kinda _**task?**_" Mordecai asked.

Marcus leaned forward onto his desk, "If you can infiltrate bandit hideout and retrieve our supplies, then the medicine is yours".

Mordecai walked over to the desk and stared at Marcus, after a few seconds he held out his hand and they shook on it, "Deal".

"What!" Rigby shouted, "We can't break into a Marauder base, that's crazy!"

Mordecai snapped his head towards Rigby, "We don't have a choice".

"Very well then" Marcus said as he stood up and walked around his desk, "Let me brief you on the details". Marcus exited the building and led them further to the other side of the city where a fence stood, people were working on fixing a large breach in it. "They drove a large truck through the fence and made their way to the storage facility, then they proceeded to load as much as they could into the back before leaving" Marcus clenched his fists in anger, "They pulled it off in mere minutes, they must have been planning it for weeks".

Mordecai was shocked by Marcus's story, what he was hung up on the most was how well equipped these bandits were. Having a working truck was surprising enough, but having fuel to use it was almost unheard of. "So if they got it there by truck, then maybe we can bring it back by truck" Mordecai said before turning to Rigby, "We'll look around and find out where they stashed the supplies, then we'll steal their truck, load it up, then haul ass out".

"Oh_** great**_, sound _**great**_" Rigby ground in response.

Mordecai then turned to Margaret, "I take it it'd be pointless to ask you to wait here, _**huh**_?" Margaret crossed her arms and glared at him, insulted that he would even ask. Mordecai shrugged his shoulders, "Well, can't say I didn't try" he said before looking at Eileen, "How about you?"

A large smile crept onto her face, "Not a chance".

"Then that's that, let's head out" Mordecai walked over to Marcus, "Just point us in the right direction and we'll get going".

Marcus turned and pointed out the large hole in the fence, "It's a few hours that way".

"Well" Mordecai said as he readjusted his pack on his shoulders, "Let's get walkin'".

Rigby let out a loud groan, "Come on, we just got _**done**_ walking!"

* * *

Just like Marcus said they arrived at the outskirts of the hideout in hours, Mordecai approached the fence and instructed Rigby to follow him. Once Rigby arrived Mordecai lowered his hands and boosted Rigby to the top of the fence. He then repeated this with Eileen and Margaret before climbing over the fence himself. They all congregated behind one of the shacks and peeked around the corner to examine the area. There were men patrolling the area, but not that many. They would wait till the coast was clear then would quickly dart to the next shack. They repeated this many times, looking in the buildings to see if that's where they stashed the stolen supplies, until they came to shack that was exceptionally larger than the rest.

"I have a hunch this is it" Mordecai whispered as he peered in, "Yeah, it is".

"Awesome" Margaret cheered quietly, "Now we just need to find the truck".

Mordecai looked over at her, "That shouldn't be too hard, we just need to find a garage".

Suddenly they all heard the sound of a gun being cocked, they turned around to see a man standing behind them with a sawed off shotgun, "Oh, you won't be finding any garages".

Mordecai reached for his sword, but before he could grab it he felt something cold against the back of his head, "Now don't go doing something foolish" Mordecai glanced back to see another man holding a revolver against his head. "What should we do with em'?"

"We'll let Cyclone Jack decide" the other man replied, we motioned them to move with his shotgun and lead them away.

After a few minutes of wandering the hideout the man with the revolver yelled up to the shotgunner, "Where the hell is he?"

He glanced back at him, "Fuck if I know!" he then stopped and turned to another bandit on patrol, "Hey! You know where jack is?"

The patrolman turned towards him, "Last I knew he was at the garage" he answered before continuing his route.

The shotgunner just shook his head, "Damn it, now that kickass line I said before was for nothin'" he turned back to the man behind them, "Let's go to the garage".

The man with the revolver kicked Rigby, "You heard him, _**move!**_"

They went back to marching when Rigby looked up at Mordecai, "Any ideas?"

"I'm working on it!" Mordecai whispered.

Eventually they arrived at the large garage, they all walked in and saw a huge semi complete with trailer. They walked to the back of the opened trailer to find a man with a black trench coat inside with several crates.

"Hey Jack!" The shotgunner yelled at him, placing the weapons he collected in the trailer.

Jack turned to face him, "Craig, would you mind telling me why you never finished taking inventory of this new stuff like I asked you to?"

Craig rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Um, I uhh"

"_**NOW!**_"

"I guess I forgot, I'm sorry Jack" Craig stuttered out, sweat dripping from his face.

Jack crossed his arms, "I see… I'll take care of it this time. Just don't let it happen again!" Craig franticly nodded his head. Jack cracked a small smile, "Now, what do you need?"

Craig quickly composed himself, "Uh, I found these trespassers. What would you like me to do with em'?"

Jack turned around and went back to doing inventory, "Just lock them in the holding cell, I'll tend to them when I'm done with this".

Craig scratched his head, "But Jack no offense, but isn't this more important than doing inve…"

"You're on thin ice Craig!" Jack snapped at him, "Now you know I like to take care of captives myself, but I also don't want to lose count. So put them in holding, and I'll get to it later".

"Ok sir" Craig answered hesitantly before signaling everyone to follow him. He lead them out to a set of cement steps leading down to a steel door. He pulled out a key and unlocked it, "In you go". The four listened and walked into a dark, dirty room with stone walls, "Gary, chain them up". Gary holstered his revolver as he approached them and placed their ankles in shackles attached to the wall. Once they were locked in Gary stood up and made his way to the exit, as the two were leaving Craig turned back to them, "Make yerselves comfortable" he cackled before slamming the door shut.

Once they were alone Rigby let out a loud groan, "_**Ahh**_, I can't believe we went through all this just to die!"

Rigby's outburst was met by a swift punch in the arm by Mordecai, "Don't talk like that, we're not dead yet".

"Well then" Rigby mumbled as he rubbed his arm, "I guess you have some _**'brilliant' **_plan to escape then, huh?"

Mordecai stopped and looked around the room, trying to piece together an idea, after a minute he sat down on the floor and placed his feet next to the wall. He then grabbed the chain and pushed against the wall with his legs.

Rigby chuckled as he watched, "Seriously, that's your plan?"

"I don't see you coming up with anything!" Mordecai scoffed as he attempted to pull the chains from the wall.

While he was pulling the door swung open and Craig charged it, he looked at Mordecai and busted into laughter at the sight of his escape attempt, "Oh, that's too good" he chuckled as he wiped a tear from his eye, he then walked up to Mordecai and crouched down to look him in the eye, "I'm afraid it's no use, this is the only way out of them chains" he held up a steel key. "And guess what" he held out his tongue and place the key on it before mumbling, "You're not gonna get it". He pulled his tongue back into his mouth and, while still laughing, swallowed.

But his laughter came to an abrupt end as he eyes widened and he started gagging. He clutched his throat and fell to his knees, he then began hitting his chest. Soon his face began to turn blue as his eyes bulged out before collapsing on the floor. Everyone just stood silent as they stared at his body.

Then suddenly Rigby erupted in laughter, "_**Ha ha**_, what a dumbass!"

Mordecai jabbed him in the arm again, "It's not funny".

"Sorry" Rigby groaned, "But it's a little funny, the guy tried to act all tough and ends up choking to death".

Mordecai shook his head, "Yeah, but that key was our only way out and now it's gone".

Eileen hesitantly tapped Mordecai on the shoulder, "_**Um**_, actually. That's not entirely true".

Mordecai looked down at her puzzled, "What do you mean?"

Eileen nervously rubbed her arm, "Well, I mean the keys technically still here" she then pointed towards Craig's body. Everyone stared unblinking at it, knowing exactly what she was getting at, "Oh man, this is gonna suck for you Mordecai" Rigby finally blurted out.

Mordecai shot him an angry glare, "What, why me?"

"There's no way I'm gonna cut open some guy for a key" Rigby answered.

"Don't be such a pussy Rigby" Mordecai snapped, "Our lives are at stake!"

Rigby crossed his arms, "Alright, let's rock, paper, scissors for who has to do it"

Mordecai slapped his forehead to groaned, "_**Fine!**_". The two readied themselves, they counted to three, Mordecai played rock while Rigby played scissors, "Ha, you lost. Now get to it".

"Son of a bitch" Rigby mumbled under his breath as he approached the body. He searched him and found a knife holstered on his belt. He grabbed it and took a deep breath, "Here goes nothing". He stuck the knife into his neck and slowly slid it down, making a large incision from the chin to the collar bone. He reached his hand inside and reached down, he then grabbed onto a long tube like stricter and gave it a pull. He felt it jar loose and slowly pulled the tube out of the incision. He took the knife and stuck it in one end and dragged it along the tube before running his thumb along the inside.

"Hurry up Rigby!" Mordecai shouted.

Rigby turned and shot him an unpleasant look, "Shut it Mordecai!" he lifted his hand from the tube, it was now covered in a thick slime causing him to gag.

"Suck it up man" Mordecai chuckled.

Rigby looked back at him again "What do you want from me Mordecai" he sneered, "My hands are covered in blood and… throat jizz!"

"Actually" Eileen interjected, "That substance you're referring to is probably mucus, you see the esophagus and windpipe are coated in mucus to help…"

"Eileen" Rigby mumbled, struggling not to vomit, "Seriously not helping". He continued to finger through the tube until the key finally fell to the floor, "_**Finally!**_"

"Great, hand it here" Mordecai said as he held out his hand.

Rigby grinned deviously, "Sure thing" he then slapped his hand against Mordecai's, smearing the filth on it all over his hand.

"Ah, sick" Mordecai bellowed before unlocking his shackles, once free he went and unlocked the others, "Let's go before they notice". They all ran to the door and made their ways up the stairs, Rigby immediately turned and ran towards the fence until Mordecai hollered at him, "What are you doing?"

Rigby stopped and looked back at him, "Getting out of here, what do you think?"

"No, we need to get that truck!" Mordecai stated firmly, "They haven't even emptied it out yet so it'll be easier than we thought"

Rigby threw his arms into the air, "What, we almost died Mordecai. We need to get out of here".

"Rigby, I'm not leaving without those supplies" Mordecai said, "If we go home empty handed then this will all be for nothing".

"He's right Rigby" Margaret added.

Rigby moaned out in anger, "Fine, the truck will make it easier anyway".

After their altercation they ran back to the garage, they gathered by the door and Mordecai cracked it open to look inside, "Coast's clear" he opened the door and everyone followed him inside. They ran to the truck and stopped at the driver's side door, Mordecai lifted himself up and glanced inside the truck, "Shit, there's no keys inside" he groaned as he dropped down.

"Dang, figures" Eileen said, "They obviously wouldn't leave them in the truck".

"Yeah, and we don't have any weapons to take them by force" Mordecai said disheartened.

"Oh, I got that covered" Rigby chuckled as he pulled out a sawed off shotgun from his jacket.

Mordecai's eyes widened, "Where the hell did you get that?"

"I swiped it from that Craig douche before we ran out of the holding cell" he said proudly, "Thought it'd come in handy".

"Well, just use it sparingly ok" Mordecai whispered, "Ammo is hard to come by these…"

Before he could finish a guard walked from behind the front of the truck, Rigby immediately turned and fired his gun at him, blowing the top of his head off. The body dropped to the floor as Rigby started to cheer, "Alright faceshot, _**boom!**_, _**squish!**_, _**YEAH-UH!**_".

Mordecai rolled his eyes as he wiped the blood from his face, "You got anymore ammo for that?"

Rigby's smile disappeared, he then stared down at his feet, "No".

"That's what I thought" Mordecai scoffed, "Check him for keys" Rigby ran to his body and searched him, but he turned back to Mordecai and shook his head, "Damn it! I should have known we wouldn't be that lucky".

A clicking sound came from behind them, they all turned to see Jack pointing a gun at them, "Oh you have no idea".

"Ah crap" Mordecai grunted as they all held up their hands.

"I just want to finish doing inventory, is that too much to ask" Jack chuckled, "I mean, I leave for a five minute lunch and have to come back to this shit". Jack moved his head to look around Mordecai at the body on the floor, "And you've killed one of my men. And judging by the fact that the short one has Craig's gun I assume it's safe to say you killed him too, which I'm honestly not that pissed about he was an incompetent fucktard but still". He started shaking his head, "I guess I have to kill you for that, so which of you will I shoot first?"

Everyone stood silent for a moment, then Mordecai stepped forward and lowered his head, "Me, this is my fault after all".

A smirk came across Jacks face, "How cute, but that hero shit seems pretty pointless don't you think?"

Mordecai lifted his head and smiled, "That has nothing to do with it, I just don't want to have to watch everyone I care for die so…"

Jack erupted into laughter, "Stop shooting for lamest last words ever, I think you won ok!"

While Jack was laughing Margaret looked down at the floor not wanting to watch Mordecai get shot, but then out of the corner of her eye she saw Craig's knife sticking out of Rigby's pocket. Quickly she snatched it and threw it at Jack, hitting him in the shoulder and forcing him to drop his gun. Mordecai saw his opening and ran for the gun, but Jack dove for it at the same time. The two slammed into each other head first, while they laid on the ground dazed Mordecai accidentally knocked the gun under the truck with his hand as he attempted to lift himself up, "Crap!".

Margaret ran over and helped him up, as she did that Eileen ran and searched the dazed Jacks coat pockets. "Got 'em" she cheered as she pulled the keys from his pocket.

"Awesome" Margaret said as she grabbed them from her hand, "Let's get out of here!". She helped Mordecai over to the truck door when Rigby ran up to them from behind the trailer.

"Mordecai" he yelled, Mordecai looked back and saw him holding his sword that Craig took from him earlier, "Catch!"

Rigby tossed it over to Mordecai, he caught it nodded, "Thanks".

Rigby ran to join Eileen in the front of the truck when he suddenly realized something, "Wait, the trailers still open. I have to close it!" he turned and ran back.

"Hurry" Margaret said as she climbed into the truck, followed by Mordecai who stuck the key into the ignition and started the engine.

Rigby reached the back of the trailer and climbed in and attempted to jump to reach the strap the close the door, but he was too short to reach, "Damn it!" he quickly scanned the inside of the trailer and noticed on of the crates, "Hmmm-Hmmm" he ran to it and started to push it towards the back. He then climbed on top of it and tried reaching the strap again, but as he was reaching Jack snuck up and grabbed his arm.

"I don't think so!" he snarled.

Rigby let out an unmanly whimper as he kicked Jack it the face out of panic. Jack stumble back and fell out of the trailer. Rigby ran and stuck he head around the corner so Mordecai could see him through the mirror, "_**Go! Go! Go!**_" he shouted while motioning them to move forward.

Mordecai listened and immediately drove the truck out of the garage, Rigby held on and tried his best not to fall out. He eventually found his balance and moved away from the open door.

As they left Jack stood up and walked over to his gun, he picked it up and holstered it. Soon his men came to investigate the scene, "Somebody" Jack shouted, "Get the carts ready!"

* * *

Mordecai drove the truck through the fence and continued to drive towards Marcus's settlement. Mordecai struggled to shift it into gear at first, but eventually got the hang of it, "Wow, how'd you learn to do that?" Margaret said in amazement.

"Played a lot of Big Rig Rally" he replied.

Eileen looked out the window at the side mirror, "I hope Rigby's ok back there" she said worriedly.

Margaret turned to her and patted her on the shoulder, "Don't worry, I'm sure he's fine"

Back in the trailer Rigby was getting thrown from side to side, slamming repeatedly into crates. He eventually fell on his back, "Stupid Mordecai!" he sneered as he sat up, "Would it kill ya to drive straight?"

He started to rub his head before looking out through the opening of the trailer, he was met with an unpleasant sight, "Oh crap!" Three small, homemade vehicles were catching up to them. Jack stood in the more heavily armored one as they drove up to the back. "I hope they can see this!"

While Eileen was looking at the mirror, she could barely notice the carts behind them, "Oh no" she shouted while slapping her cheeks with her hands, "They caught up to us!"

Mordecai looked in his mirror and saw what she was talking about, "Ah man, that's not good" he turned to Margaret, "Take the wheel, I gotta help Rigby".

She grabbed onto the wheel and Mordecai reached for the door handle, "But I don't know how to drive this thing".

"Don't worry" Mordecai said as he cracked the door open, "Just keep it at this speed and you should be fine" he opened the door and slowly crept to the trailer, he climbed on the top and crawled on his stomach to the back, "This is so dumb, why did I do this!" He reached the back and managed to swing down into the trailer, unfortunately he swung right into Rigby. They both barreled to the front and slammed into a bunch of crates.

They slowly got up and dusted themselves off, "Glad you could join me" Rigby said sarcastically.

Mordecai looked down at him, "Oh get over it" suddenly he was thrown to the side and hit the wall of the trailer, "Damn, you really get tossed around back here".

"Oh really? I didn't notice" Rigby chuckled, "So any ideas?"

Mordecai shrugged his shoulder, "I don't know, maybe we can look for anything that's unessential and throw it at them?"

"Sounds good to me" They ran and looked into all the crates to check their content, eventually Mordecai found one filled books.

"Here, throw these!" they each grabbed at armful and ran to the back and started hurling them at the carts.

Rigby managed to hit the driver of one in the face, causing him to veer off and hit a huge bump, launching him into a barrel roll. He landed upside-down, "Alright, that's one" Rigby cheered as they wreck shrunk in the distance.

They continued to throw literature at them when Mordecai hit the hood of one of them which exploding into a bunch of loose paper. A piece of which got stuck on the drivers face, as he struggled to remove it he spun out and to cart began to do a series of flips before coming to a stop as a mangled pile of metal. "_**Whoa**_, all tied up. Next one wins it!" his celebration was short lived when Jack climbed to the back of his cart and armed what appeared to be a spear gun. "Duck!"

Jack fired the spear and it flew towards them, but the jumped out of the way at the last second. The spear impaled so deep into the front that it actually managed to breach the back of the truck. Eileen and Margaret looked at the sharp spear between them in shock, which caused Margaret to swerve to the left. This caused Mordecai and Rigby to again be tossed into the wall, they slowly got up and noticed the spear was attached to a cable. They looked about and saw Jack crawling towards them on it, "What! That's straight up pirate shit" Rigby groaned.

Mordecai ran to grab another book to throw, but before he could grab one Jack reached the trailer. Mordecai turned around and reached for his sword, but Jack drew his gun, "Don't be ridiculous". Mordecai froze as Jack squeezed the trigger.

"_**NO!**_" Rigby yelled as he dove at his legs, he grabbed his foot and bit into his ankle. Jack cried out in pain as Mordecai dove for his gun, during the struggle the gun went off. It hit the driver in the head, killing him instantly. The cart started to swerve and spin until the cable finally snapped. Mordecai and Rigby ducked as the metal cable whipped back and into the trailer. As luck would have it the wire hit Jack in the chest, impaling him and lodging itself perfectly between two of his ribs.

Rigby stumbled up and ran to him, "Suck it!" he pushed him out of the trailer, Jack hit the ground and tumbled until the wire became taut. Jack grabbed onto the cable and tried to pull himself back to the trailer while he was being dragged. Rigby started to laugh, "Yeah, good luck with th…" suddenly they ran over a bump as they reached an old paved road, which cause him to fly out of the trailer.

"Rigby!" Mordecai cried as he reached for his best friend, but he was already out of reach. Rigby hit the ground and tumbled, but eventually grabbed onto Jack. He crawled onto his back at brought himself to his knees. Jack reached up to grab him with one of his arms, but Rigby managed to stand up and placed his foot on the back of his head. He pushed down on it until his face was forced against the pavement, leaving a smeared trail of blood behind them, "_**Eww**_, gross!" Rigby stood on Jacks lifeless body, riding it like a skateboards as he struggled to get his balance. His heart was racing, "Oh Shit, oh shit, oh shit!"

"Hold on" Mordecai yelled out as he grabbed the cable and tried to pull it in, but it was no use. His hands began to slip, cutting up his palms. Mordecai let go and looked at his bloodied hands, he knew there was only one option left, "Rigby, you have to crawl across the wire!"

Rigby wasn't fond of the idea but didn't have it in him to argue, he got down on his knees and grabbed the cable. He spun upside-down and wrapped his legs around it and slowly crept to the trailer, the road speeding by just inches from his face. After what seemed like an eternity he reached the trailer and dropped from the wire. He laid on the ground as he tried to catch his breath.

Mordecai reached out his hand, "See, that wasn't so bad".

Rigby took his hand and he helped him to his feet, "stop…talking" he mumbling as he tried to get his breathing under control.

* * *

They finally reached the gates of Marcus's colony, once the guard recognized them he immediately granted them access. They drove the truck up to city hall, Margaret and Eileen stepped out and ran back to the trailer. Mordecai and Rigby stumbled out, their legs still wobbly, "Finally" Rigby cheered as he planted his foot on the ground.

"Here" Margaret said to Mordecai as she handed him the keys.

"Uh, thanks" he said confused, "But we don't need them anymore".

Margaret gave him a serious look, "Just in case".

Mordecai stared at her with a puzzled look, but soon his attention was drawn to Marcus who walked towards them, "Great, glad to see you made it. How'd it go?"

"How'd it go?" Rigby scoffed, "I'll tell you how it went!"

Mordecai jabbed him in the shoulder, which silenced him immediately, "Just give us our medicine, and we'll be on our way".

"Sure thing" Marcus chuckled as he crossed his arms, "So, what do you have to trade?"

"What!" Mordecai sneered to him.

"You said you wanted to trade, so let's trade" Marcus answered.

Mordecai clenched his fist, "You said, if we got the supplies back…"

Marcus interrupted him, "Look Mordecai, I'm thankful believe me, but if you think I'm going to just _**give **_you the antibiotics you're crazy"

"_**Give**_ us!" Margaret shouted.

"You said we were trading our services" Mordecai reminded him, "We bring back the supplies, you give us the antibiotics. That was the deal!"

Marcus held up his hands, "Whoa Mordecai calm down. If you don't want to trade then you can just leave, it's just a shame all those people won't get the medicine they need" he said in a mockingly saddened tone.

Mordecai was grinding his teeth in anger, but then he had an idea, "Ok then" he smiled, "I'll trade you the antibiotics for this" he held up the truck keys.

Marcus had a puzzled look on his face, "What's that?"

"Oh, just the keys to the truck" he said while pointing back at the truck, "You know, the one with all your supplies on it".

"What are you getting at?" Marcus shouted.

"Like I said, I'll trade you the keys for the medicine" Mordecai snickered, "But if you don't want to then I guess I'll just take the truck, and all its contents, back to my settlement".

Marcus got up in Mordecai's face, "You'd dare steal from me, thief?"

Mordecai just backed up and started laughing, "Steal, we risked life and limb to get these. My friend had to cut open some dudes throat. The way I see it, we've earned these supplies a lot more than you did" he said slyly, "So it's either give up the medicine… or give up everything"

Marcus was visibly furious, but knew that he was bested, "Fine, it's a deal" he held out his hand, "Take the antibiotics and go" Mordecai walked up and placed the key in his hand. Marcus put them in his pocket, "But then I don't want to see you again, if you every need anything else, you'll have to find someone else to barter with".

Mordecai turned and walked towards the trailer, "Sounds good to me".

Marcus walked back towards the city hall building, he pulled out the keys and stared at them, "What the hell am I going to do with a truck and no fuel?"

* * *

It took them about another two days to get back home, but once they did they made their way to Benson's shack. But on their way they crossed the canteen which was turned into an infirmary. Techmo noticed them and ran over, "Boy am I glad to see you guys" he said tiredly, "We did the best we could but I don't think they would have held out another day or two".

Suddenly Skips emerged from the canteen, "You're back! Did you get what we needed?"

"Sure did" Margaret answered, then everyone walked up to a table and dumped the contents of their pack onto it. They also emptied their pockets and any other containers they filled with it.

"Excellent" Skips said happily, "We'll administer this to everyone right away, you should go see Benson. Let him know you're back" he then skipped away.

They followed his advice and made their way to Benson's, when Benson saw them a huge smile appeared on his dome, "Oh I'm so happy your back, things weren't looking good around here" he stood up and walked over to them, he then proceeded to shake their hands, "Did you guys run into any trouble?"

They all looked amongst themselves, speechless. Mordecai eventually turned to Benson, "You know, it's probably best we don't tell you".

* * *

**Shriek the lips, across ragged tongue  
****Convulsing violently  
****Move the jaw, cry aloud  
****Bound up the Dead triumphantly  
****The ragged they come and the ragged they kill!  
****You pray so hard on bloody knees  
****The ragged they come and the ragged they kill!  
****Down in the cool air I can see**

**Hey, Yeah  
****I'm the one that you wanted  
****Hey, Yeah  
****I'm your Superbeast  
****Hey, Yeah  
****I'm the one that you wanted  
****Hey, Yeah  
****I'm your Superbeast**

**Author's Note:**

**That's all for chapter 4, hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to leave a review if you'd like, and a big thanks to everyone who's read and left reviews for previous chapters. A few things I'd like to mention, the title of this chapter was inspired by something that happened to me recently. In Manitou Springs there's this trail called the Incline, which is basically a set of steps up a mountain. So I'm hiking up this thing and I'm tired and worn out, and I think I'm about to reach the top. Turns out it only appeared to be the top and I was only three quarters of the way up. Turns out it's called a 'false summit' and it was a total mind fuck. I thought it seemed fitting for this chapter, since they thought they reached their goal but they hardest part was yet to come. Next, the villain's name is from the song 'Living Dead Girl' by Rob Zombie. Next, I'd like to say I'm not a doctor and know next to nothing about anatomy. I do research before I write stuff but I still tried to make it as vague as possible to keep me from looking too stupid. Finally, the footnote is from the song 'Superbeast' by Rob Zombie. **

**Hope you liked it and if not, sorry for wasting your time. See you in chapter 5!**


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